Noble Maiden Fair
by tsay cresant
Summary: Kakashi was never one to believe in magic or fortune telling, but after a strange dream changing his views on a traumatic memory and a visit with a fortune teller, his ideas may be changing. Now to make sense of the present and to mend the bond within his teammates for the future, Kakashi must discover the missing pieces to his past and face that maybe not all is what he believed.
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: I went and saw Brave with my friends a few days ago, and the song Noble Maiden Fair (A Mhaighdean Bhan Uasal) from the movie inspired this story. I highly recommend it. Enjoy the story Feel free to review, favorite, and alert ^_^ **

Prologue

The smell of blood invaded Kakashi's nose as he laid with his father's dead body, weeping uncontrollably for his loss. He knew it was a dream, a memory of what had happened, for he was watching from the corner of his father's bedroom as his younger self laid there in agony, filled with confusion. This memory was relived almost nightly by Kakashi, always ending the same way and always leading him to go take a walk to clear his head. Tonight felt different though, as he noticed a dark mass enter in from the bedroom door and kneel next to himself. Kakashi tried to push off the wall and walk over to get a better look, but he was cemented to the ground. All he could do was watch the dark mass lift his small self from his father's dead body and wrap him up in it's… were those arms? He couldn't tell. Kakashi could feel himself drifting back into consciousness as a song came from the black mass, lulling his younger self into a comfort until he fell asleep.

"_A naoidhean bhig, cluinn mo ghuth_

_Mise ri d' thaobh, O__ mhaighdean bhan_

_Ar righinn oig, fas as faic_

_Do thir, dileas Fein_

_A ghrian a's a ghealaich, stuir sinn_

_Gu uair ar cliu 's ar gloire_

_Naoidhean bhig, ar righinn go_

_Mhaighdean uashaill bhan"_

Usually after the memory, Kakashi woke with a jolt from screaming all night, but this morning he rose slowly as the song played in his head. It had been in some language he didn't know, but for some reason sounded somewhat familiar. Yet, he doesn't remember ever seeing that in his dreams or back when his father had killed himself. Was it his brain using a defense mechanism? Maybe his subconscious couldn't take the pain anymore and had to make something up to make him feel better… Well, whatever it was, all Kakashi knew was that he was running even later than usual to his meet up with Team Seven, so he didn't have time to waste on thinking of a strange dream.

"It feels so good to get out of the village," Naruto sighed as he linked his arms behind his head and walked ahead of Team Seven through the gates of Konoha. "Where are we going exactly Kakashi Sensei?"

"There is a festival in the Capital to celebrate the marriage of the emperor's daughter. We're going to be extra security," Kakashi said uninterestedly as he started into his book. He was never really a big fan of festivals or being around large amounts of people in general, so it wasn't a very exciting mission to him, but to the rest of Team Seven, it was a treat.

While Naruto and Sakura rambled on about what kind of booths may be at the festival, Sasuke slowed his stride until he was shoulder to shoulder with his Sensei. Kakashi had been wary of taking Sasuke on this mission after the chunin exams, especially since things between him and the rest of the team had been extraordinarily strained, but at the same time, he saw that this could be a way for him to rebuild the bond with his teammates that had been on the brink of shattering within the past month or so. Kakashi also knew that Jiraiya had his eye on making Naruto his disciple, which would mean this could be the last mission Team Seven went on together for a very long time. If anything, there was a hope that this would instill a sense of normalcy back into their small family.

"Do you think that there will be any actual danger Sensei?" Sasuke asked quietly. He was worried that if he had to fight, the curse mark would take over again, and even though he thirsted for the power it gave him, he didn't like the cost.

"No, I don't think there will be, but there is the potential for it," Kakashi muttered back as he pulled Make Out Paradise out of his back pouch and started reading. Sasuke took the hint, but decided to walk next to his sensei instead of trying to hop into Sakura and Naruto's conversation.

The closer that Team Seven came to the Capital, the more traffic appeared in the roads with not only people from the land of Wind, where the emperor's daughter's husband was from, but also land of Fire citizens who were excited for the festival. The crowd made all of Team Seven's genin even more excited, even Sasuke, as they struck up conversations with random citizens about the festival.

"I wish Pervy Sage hadn't spent all of my money when we went looking for Granny," Naruto pouted as he held up his almost empty frog change purse. Sakura just stuck her tongue out at his misfortune and went back to a conversation she had been having with a girl around her age from the Land of Wind. Sasuke reluctantly pulled off his backpack and pulled a red and black wallet from it. He leaved through it and pulled out the equivalent of 20 dollars (A.N.20,000 ryo I think).

"Here," he said as he handed it to Naruto. The yellow haired shinobi wasn't sure how to respond to the gesture. "Consider it a token of appreciation for your battle with Gaara."

"Thanks," Naruto grinned as he took the money from Sasuke. Kakashi couldn't help but smile at what he was hoping was the slow healing of an almost broken bond.

"Look! There it is!" Sakura yelled excitedly as the city came into view. The normally extravagant capital was decorated with paper lanterns, ribbons, and kites, making it obvious that a hearty celebration was occurring inside. Even though they had been traveling all day, the team was so wound up that they would want to head straight into the festival when they arrived.

"Don't forget that we are on a mission," Kakashi reminded them as the bright red gates of the capital came closer and closer. "When we get inside, I want you three to stay together and keep an eye out for suspicious activity. I have to go report to the emperor's high officer, so I'll meet up with you three later."

"Yes Sensei," they said half mindedly as they watched walked through the red gates and into the controlled chaos within. Kakashi didn't get the chance to give them anymore instruction once they were inside, since Sakura looped her arms around Sasuke and Naruto's and hurried them off in one direction.

With a shrug, he continued to weave through the crowded streets and towards the palace, until he was stopped by someone calling his name. He froze mid step and turned to a dark purple tent that had a hunched over old woman sitting in it. Her dark hands were decorated with jewelry while her old face was covered in make up. White hair was pulled up in a bun on top of the woman's head and matched the bright color of her eyes. Her dark blue robes that hung loosely on her matched her tent in a strange way.

"That is your name, is it not? Kakashi?" she asked with a voice rough from age.

"How did you know that?" he asked as he approached her. She made a grand gesture with her hand towards the bench in front of a table she sat at within her tent. Reluctantly, Kakashi sat and watched as the woman prepared tea. He waited patiently for his answer, although it seemed as though he'd never receive it. Instead, he came to his own conclusions. "You knew my name because a lot of people do. I'm Copy Ninja Kakashi. I should've known that. And you used calling my name to pull me over to your table and have me spend money on something or distract me from my job."

"You're bright, but sometimes that's not a good thing," she said as she poured him some tea. "I do know your name because of your shinobi status, but what will a simple tea reading hurt? Free of charge, since you figured out my trick." Kakashi didn't answer, which she took as an acceptance of her offer as she poured a spoon of loose tea into his cup and then some hot water over top. "Now stir and then drink most of it. While doing so, concentrate on what you want to know."

While Kakashi found the whole thing completely ridiculous, as he did with most sorts of divination, he did as the woman asked and closed his eyes. It was easy for him to focus on what he wanted to know. He wondered if Sasuke would go with Orochimaru in search of power and if Naruto would try and stop him. He wondered if his dream last night meant anything, or was just a defense mechanism.

"Alright, that's enough," the woman pulled him out of his thoughts. "Now swirl the tea three times clockwise and tap the cup against the saucer while making a wish. Then pour the tea into the saucer"

Kakashi followed her instructions, no matter how stupid he thought they were, and wished that team seven would last. He had a feeling that wishing on tea wouldn't help that any. The woman then took the tea cup from him and held it in her right hand while staring at the leaves.

"Hmmm, you have some very interesting leaves," she said after staring into them for a few moments. "A wavy line indicating that you are uncertain of the path that you must follow, but also a rabbit, which means that where you are headed will require bravery. Luckily, there is also a shoe, and even though it is a small one, that means that whatever changes you will be facing soon, they will be for the better."

Unsure of what to say, Kakashi simply thanked the woman and gave her a few ryo as a tip, even though the reading was free. He wasn't one to believe in magic or fortune telling, but something in his gut was nagging him, telling him to heed the leaves and be prepared for an unexpected path.


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Thanks for the review, Pm, and alerts and stuff :) I appreciate all and any support and criticism. ^_^ Enjoy the new chapter.**

Chapter 1

By the time Kakashi had met back up with his team after his run in with the fortune teller and his checking in with the head of the emperor's security, the young shinobi were deep in their enjoyment of the festival. They were all sharing dango together and chattering happily, even Sasuke, which made Kakashi change his mind about interfering. He would keep his distance and watch for suspicious activity enough for the four of them in order for them to have one day where they could be worry free children.

"What do you want to do next?" Sakura asked as she swallowed the last of her dango. Naruto's eyes darted around the festival as Sasuke shrugged, not wanting to go anywhere particular. Sakura looked around as well, her eyes catching a target game. It wasn't the game that had her attention though, but the prizes. Beautiful bouquets of flowers sat in cooled water as prizes for anyone who was able to hit four bull's-eyes. Obviously, it was a trap for guys to get sucked into to try and win a present for their girlfriends, but Sakura knew better. She could win one, easily. "Can we play this?"

"Flowers? Why would you want to win flowers?" Naruto asked as he scrunched up his nose. Sakura ignored him as she ran over and dug into her pockets for some money.

"I'd like to try a round," she said with a smile to the man running the booth. He took her money and handed her four shuriken to toss at the target. "This should be easy, just like being at the academy," she mumbled to herself as she backed up and threw. Even though they seemed as though they would've made perfect bull's-eyes, each shuriken she threw didn't stick into the target. "Huh….?"

"I'll win you flowers Sakura!" Naruto grinned as he put money down for a round of shuriken. Now was his chance to not only win Sakura's affections, but to also beat Sasuke at something. Never mind the fact that Sasuke wasn't even trying, because to Naruto his not trying just meant that he knew he wouldn't win. Naruto became exceedingly frustrated with each throw as the shuriken continued to bounce off of the target, like it was a trampoline or something.

"Idiot, you're doing it wrong," Sasuke grumbled as he put down some money and took a round of shuriken. Before throwing, he ran his fingers across the points and realized that they were much to dull to ever even get close to sticking to the target. Quick enough so that the booth owner wouldn't notice, Sasuke traded out the shuriken with his own and threw them quickly, each landing with a _thunk_ into the bull's-eye. The owner stared at the Uchiha dumbfounded as Naruto glared at him and Sakura practically swooned.

"Which do you want Sakura?" Sasuke asked as he faced his teammate. Some of the words Kakashi Sensei had told him before they had gone on this mission danced into his head.

_Hatred will not make you as strong as love, because hatred is a selfish act, but love is something given without the promise of receiving. If you love someone enough, you will fight harder for them than you ever will for yourself._

"Sasuke…?" Sakura whispered, her face beet red from blushing. Sasuke blinked and slightly blushed himself, realizing that he'd been staring at Sakura while thinking that.

"I'm sorry, did you say which one's you wanted?" he asked while all the while Naruto was simmering in the background, wishing he was the one who had won flowers for Sakura.

"Those," she said as she pointed to a bouquet of white lilies. The booth owner moved to them and handed them to Sasuke, who handed them to Sakura. "Thank you Sasuke…"

"You're welcome," he said, rather than throwing a sarcastic or hurtful comment at her. She was somewhat surprised, but didn't want to say anything that might break the spell of happiness. Before she even had the chance to screw up the moment, Kakashi appeared again.

"Yo," he said with a wave. "We're officially off duty, so I was going to go arrange where we're staying. Are you three ready to go back?"

"Not yet Sensei," Sakura said childishly as she cradled her flowers. "But, could you take these with you, so I don't have to carry them?"

"Sure," he said as he took the flowers from his student. "Have fun you three. You deserve a break."

"How will we find you?" Sasuke asked as Kakashi turned to leave. Kakashi smiled, his eye crinkling as the only sign of it.

"Consider it espionage training," he said over his shoulder as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke to find a hotel in the overly crowded city. While this would normally be nearly impossible, Kakashi had just been lucky enough to find an inn relatively close to where he transported to with a room that wasn't extravagantly expensive. It wasn't the nicest hotel in the world, but they were shinobi and use to sleeping outside, so if there was a roof over their heads, that was luxury.

As soon as Kakashi got into the room, he laid Sakura's bouquet on the end table, peeled off his shinobi uniform and put on pajamas. It was strange how as soon as he made it to the room, a wave of exhaustion washed over him as the perfume from the flowers attacked his senses and made him even more drowsy. With a small yawn, the shinobi dropped into one of the beds, not even bothering with any other bed preparations, and passed into a deep sleep.

_"Are these for me?" A familiar voice asked sweetly as a dark mass held a bouquet of white roses. Its slender fingers were easy to make out as they brushed against the rose pedals, taking in the feel of each one. Was this a person Kakashi knew? A love interest that he didn't remember? "Thank you. You are the kindest shinobi I have ever met." Something about this didn't feel right. It was almost as though this wasn't his dream, or his memory, but someone else's. Before he could consider this longer, he was pulled into another scene._

_ "Ho Pup!" the same voice called out as Kakashi watched his younger self run into the Yamanaka's garden. The dark mass followed behind, stopping at the gate and watching his younger self. "You mustn't play in an area that isn't yours."_

_ "But - It's fun!" he called to the mass as he jumped through the gardens, careful not to step on any of the flowers. Behind him trailed a young Pakuun, timidly hanging near the gate with the mass._

_ "I understand Pup, but we must be going home now. I don't think Mrs. Yamanaka would be happy to find you in her garden for the fourth time this week," the voice said as it offered its hand out. _

"Sensei?" a sweet voice called into Kakashi's dreams, interrupting the unfamiliar thoughts. He started blinking to try and wake up, but to no avail. "Sensei?" she tried again, shaking him softly. "We found you, but now you have to make room for Naruto and Sasuke in bed."

Kakashi sat up to see Sakura standing next to him with a smile as she pointed to her two teammates.

"I refuse to share a bed with either of them, but I'm sure you understand," she said with a smile as she walked into the hall to take a bath, not even hesitating to wait for an answer. Kakashi rubbed his eyes as he tried to make sense of the last part of his dream. That was definitely him, but he doesn't remember ever going in the Yamanaka's flower garden, and by the way the voice sounded, it seemed like a regular thing.

"Uh… Sensei?" Naruto questioned, breaking Kakashi's trance. "Are you okay?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Kakashi said as he got up and grabbed his shinobi uniform from where he put it in the corner of the room. Without another thought, he pulled his pants and his long black shirt on over his pajamas and walked out of their hotel room.

"I just need some air," Kakashi told himself as he walked down the wooden rickety steps and out into the Capital. Most of the booths were closed, which meant less people were out now, but that was exactly what he had been hoping for. Now he could have a moment to think without interruption. But rather than pondering about the entire situation like he had been, he decided to make a list in his head of what he knew, what he didn't know, and what he needed to know.

He knew that he had heard that voice before, that these "dreams" he's been having are more than dreams, and he knew that he didn't remember any of these memories, if they were memories.

He didn't know who or what the black mass was, or even if it was only one person. He didn't know why this was happening to him now. He had absolutely no idea what was triggering it, although he thought it may have something to do with his surroundings, like how he had dreamt about flowers when there was the smell of flowers in the room.

What did he want to know? Well, for starters, he wanted to know who the black mass was, if it was any one person or many people. He wanted to know who that voice belonged to. He wanted to know why this was happening, and if he was supposed to be taking deeper meaning from it or not.

"We meet again," the fortune teller called cheerfully from her booth, now only lit by candle light. "Lost?"

"Not physically," Kakashi answered as he continued to walk by.

"I wasn't asking if you were physically lost," she called back, making Kakashi stop. "How about a chat?"

"I think I'd rather be alone with my thoughts now, but thank you," Kakashi said after considering her offer for a moment.

"Isn't it always more productive to bounce your thoughts off of someone older and wiser than you though?" she asked, which was enough of an argument to get Kakashi sitting right back at her bench. "Now what bothers you?"

"Have you ever had strange dreams that almost feel like déjà vu but you can't really place where you've seen them before?" Kakashi asked as he stared at the woman's bright eyes, hoping that maybe she would have an answer.

"No," she answered truthfully. "But I use to have a friend that did."

"Really?" Kakashi asked, hoping that meant she would maybe be able to give him her contact information or some way to talk to her.

"She's quite dead now, but when she was alive, we had lived in the same caravan together as children. She would always have these strange dreams about the past, sometimes pasts of people she didn't know, and then, she began having dreams about the future," the woman said gravely. "That was when everything went to hell."

"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked, although he could imagine being able to know the future would be far from ideal.

"There are a lot of things people are willing to do for security," the fortune teller said softly. "Even if it means hurting others."

Chills shot up Kakashi's spine as the image of arms and legs being chained appeared in his head. Now where had that come from?

"Did she ever talk about seeing black masses in her dreams? Like, bodies that should be there, but aren't?" he asked to quickly change the subject away from chains and death. The fortune teller took a moment to think back the best she could.

"I don't believe so," she said apologetically. The old woman yawned, reminding Kakashi that it was late, so he asked just one last question.

"What was her name?" he asked carefully.

"Mikazuki," she answered as she began snuffing out candles. Kakashi took the hint.

"Thank you for your company," Kakashi said as he stood up. She nodded and gave a friendly wave as a goodbye as he disappeared into the smoke and back outside his hotel room.

_"Mikazuki! Come here sweetie!" _Kakashi heard a woman say from behind him. He quickly turned around, only to see that no one was there.

"I just need some rest… it's because I haven't been sleeping well," he said to himself as he walked back into the hotel room where all three of his students were sound asleep.

_"Kiki! Wait up!" _a young girl called, but it had sounded like it came from the window. Kakashi hurried over and looked out, only to see an almost empty street and no children in sight. Deciding to ignore the voices, he pulled off his layer of uniform and laid back in bed in his pajamas, crammed next to Naruto and Sasuke.

"_Mikazuki, it's so great to finally meet you," _Minato's voice said in Kakashi's head. His stomach flip-flopped at the sound of his sensei's voice, even though he knew it had to just be in his head.

"Just go to sleep," he mumbled to himself as he tried to get comfortable in the overcrowded bed. "Just go to sleep…"

As Kakashi reached the end of consciousness, one more voice rung out.

"_Mikazuki? Are you alright?" _Sakumo Hatake whispered, as if he was whispering it into Kakashi's ear just as he fell into a dream.


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Thanks everyone for the reviews, alerts, favorites, and any other support : ) I truly appreciate it.**

Chapter 2:

Kakashi had expected to be sucked into another confusing dream after hearing those voices before bed, but it was the exact opposite. It was like being sucked into nonexistence: he didn't think, didn't hear, and didn't see. As he woke up, he wondered if that's what death felt like, just pure nothing. While it seemed like a nice thought, it was also unsettling to imagine everything just ending.

Naruto's quiet snoring reminded Kakashi that his students were even in the room and of where he was. The wall clock said it was 5 in the morning, so they still had a few hours until they were on their shift. His first instinct was to go to the memorial stone, but since that wasn't an option, he lay back down and closed his eyes, only to hear that same melody that was sung being played on a violin. Then, that voice chimed back in.

"_A naoidhean bhig, cluinn mo ghuth_

_Mise ri d' thaobh, O__ mhaighdean bhan_

_Ar righinn oig, fas as faic_

_Do thir, dileas Fein_

_A ghrian a's a ghealaich, stuir sinn_

_Gu uair ar cliu 's ar gloire_

_Naoidhean bhig, ar righinn go_

_Mhaighdean uashaill bhan"_

He jumped out of bed and began searching through the drawers, looking for a notepad to try and write these words down on. Sure, he didn't know the language, but he could get it phonetically and then see if anyone could figure it out. He wished that he could write out the melody, but he didn't know anything about music. _I should've paid more attention to mom's lessons._

The franticness of the situation ended for a second as he thought about what he had just crossed his mind. Mom's lessons? She died before he had even had the chance to know her, so why would he think that?

_She played the violin._ The image of a thin, willowy woman with long fine brown hair sitting at the window seat within the Hatake House's living room filled his mind. In her cotton white sun dress, she looked like a goddess from an old legend as the light shown through and reflected off the polished wood of her violin. In her face, Kakashi could see himself, especially in her eye shape and nose, but he wasn't given much more of an opportunity to look at her as his view changed from her to the door sliding open in the living room from the outside.

"I heard you playing, so I thought I would come in and listen," a younger version of his father said as he pulled off his sandals and closed the door shut again. "It's been a long time since you've pulled that old thing out."

"I haven't wanted to play in a long time," she said, sending chills up Kakashi's spine. That was the voice, the voice he's been hearing. It's hers. But how? He'd never met her. He'd never even seen a picture. This was impossible…

"I need to get out of here," Kakashi said to himself as he shook the images out of his head and grabbed his clothes out of the pile on the floor. A bath could do him some good, and maybe calm his frayed nerves. At first, it was somewhat refreshing to see these strange dreams, but now that they were making even less sense, all it did was make him anxious and confused. He almost wished to dream of Obito or his father's death. Anything to end that song in his head.

As he walked out of the room and towards the public bath, the song began again, only louder than before. He covered his ears to try and block it out, but it powered through as the hallway became pitch black. Frozen in place, Kakashi uncovered his sharingan eye and tried to see if he could see other people. Instead, he saw a warm light, as if it were coming from a candle, glowing down the hallway. He followed it, walking slowly to make sure it wasn't scared away, but the closer he got, the further away it moved. It wasn't until he made it into the stairwell that he was able to catch up with it. The black mass was no longer a mystery or even frightening as it stood before him, cradling a candle in its thin hands.

"Mother?" he asked strongly as he watched the cloud take a solid form of the woman from his dreams. "I don't understand what's going on."

She stared at him with soft brown eyes, moving the candle to her right hand and drifting closer. Her hair floated around her head, as if it were underwater and drifting with the tides. While every shinobi instinct in Kakashi's body told him to run or at least move away, he stood still as she came face to face with him. Gently, she cupped his cheek with her left hand and put the candle in his hand with the other. Once he had a secure hold on the candle, she untied his headband and dropped it to the floor, so she could plant a soft kiss on his forehead.

"You've grown so much…. Now I know you're ready to face the truth, and the perils that go along with it. I hope you understand why I've hidden this from you for so long," she whispered as the candle snuffed itself and sent Kakashi back into darkness. He was back in one of the worst nights of his life, no longer watching, but himself. He ran into his parents room after smelling the blood, worry filling into his gut. There before him was his father, bleeding to death at his own hand.

"Father!" he yelled as the Earth shattered beneath him. Falling to his knees, he buried his face in his father's neck and held his free hand, as if that would change anything. All of this was familiar, until he heard the door open.

"Pup? Where are you?" his mother called as she hurried through the house. "It's storming badly, and I've been out searching for you!"

She ran into their bedroom to find Kakashi and Sakumo. As a child, Kakashi hadn't noticed the agony paint across her face at the sight of his father, but now with the mind of an adult, he saw the pang of it. For a split millisecond, he could see her world crumble, but only a split second, for after that, he was in her arms.

"Shhhh, it's alright my lamb," she whispered to the sobbing boy as she cradled him in her arms. For how thin she looked, she was obviously strong if she was able to carry a six year old boy with such ease, let alone cradle him, but that wasn't something Kakashi had thought about back then. "Come now, let's get you in clean clothes and to bed."

"But- but!" Kakashi sniffled, looking back over his shoulder to see his dead father and to only begin the cycle of weeping again. She held him tighter, her thin fingers running through his hair to calm him.

"Shhhh," she whispered as she rocked him, swaying out of the room and into the living room. As much as she willed herself to be strong, Mikazuki couldn't be stone. Her eyes watered in sadness as her throat threatened to close up, but she wouldn't let it.

"_A naoidhean bhig, cluinn mo ghuth," _she sang softly, her voice coming through as strong as she was able to make it under the circumstances. The rumbling thunder outside was a constant reminder to them that not all was right with the world, but she tried to sing above it and make everything at least a little better. "_Mise ri d' thaobh, O__ mhaighdean bhan._ _Ar righinn oig, fas as faic._ _Do thir, dileas Fein."_

"_A ghrian a's a ghealaich, stuir sinn," _Kakashi joined in as his mother's voice began to break from crying. She had been singing this song to him since he was a baby, and had taught it to him a long time ago, but he never sang it because he thought singing was for girls. For that small moment though, he no longer thought so. "_Gu uair ar cliu 's ar gloire_. _Naoidhean bhig, ar righinn go_. _Mhaighdean uashaill bhan"_

"Hey, are you alright Sir?" A woman in the stairwell asked as Kakashi came back to reality. Gathered around him were a handful of people with expressions ranging from worried to annoyed. He was no longer standing in the stairwell, but lying on the ground and had a pounding in his head. Did he pass out? "You were unconscious and we didn't know if you had been injured or anything-"

"I'm fine," Kakashi said as he sat up and tried to reorient himself. "I'm sorry for causing any worry, but thank you for your kindness."

As he thanked the woman, weird flashes came through his head of what looked like her as a little girl, then as an adolescent and then as now, where she was married with two kids. Just staring at her, Kakashi knew she was going to have another son, and that she would live to the age of 73, if all was to go well.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked as he stood up and tried to get over the shock of what he was seeing.

"Yes, thank you," he said as he turned around abruptly and headed back to the room. There was no pretending that what just happened didn't happen, but he couldn't frighten his team. At that moment, he simply decided to cope with the strangeness that was happening to him until it was time to go back to Konoha. There, maybe he could find some answers.


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Thank you for all of the support in reviews/alerts/favorites or just by reading. Special thanks to prescripto13 for his/her thought out and nice reviews. **

Chapter 3

"Sensei, are you sure you don't want to stay in the room?" Sasuke asked warily as Kakashi walked with them through the streets, his head pounding from all of the noise of people's pasts, presents, and futures bombarding him. After finding out that he had passed out in the hotel, his students had been reluctant about him carrying out the mission with them.

"I'm sure. You three worry too much," he joked, concealing the mind numbing pain with a smile. "All we're doing is walking around and checking for suspicious activity. Besides, that was a freak accident."

"Okay Sensei," Naruto frowned. Meeting eyes with the blonde genin sent Kakashi back to the day Naruto had been born. The image of his mother holding him close to her as Minato went to protect the village pushed away all of the other memories of the surrounding people. _His parents really did love him._

Kakashi moved his eyes away so he wouldn't be staring awkwardly and went back to his head. It was almost like there was a new space within his mind, the normal area where he would think, the place that handed bodily functions that he didn't think about, the place that held his memories and somewhere new. The best way to describe this new space would be a highway, where each person surrounding him was in a fast moving car and would flash quick jolts of memories or future events at him while passing by on the side of the road. Every so often, one would slow down and give him a lift, taking him to an entirely different time. This space was how his mother had contacted him, or at least that's what he thought. That whole experience left him even more confused than the newfound powers, and also left him to wonder if these abilities would allow him to contact her, but with all of the other noise going on his head, he barely had time to think about that.

In the entire shift Team Seven worked, Kakashi saw 132 births, 293 deaths, and more random memories than he could even keep track of. The sound was unrelenting, but the promise of being able to go back home tomorrow and find somewhere quiet to rest was what kept him going. It was so bad that he didn't even touch Make Out Paradise.

The genin parted ways with their Sensei to enjoy their last day at the festival, while he hurried through the crowd to find that fortune teller. She seemed to know a lot more about this situation than he did.

_"Kiki! Hurry up!" a young girl with bright eyes called to Kakashi's mother. Both of them had to be in their teens, around 13 or 14. _

_ "I'm coming Mae," Mikazuki called as she braided her long brown hair and pinned it to her head. After doing so quickly, she grabbed her violin and bow off of the floor of her tent and ran out to her friend. "What song did you want me to play?"_

_ "You know! The one that goes 'da daaadaaaadaaaa! Dadadada dadada da!'" Mae answered as she mimed playing a violin. Mikazuki smiled softly as she prepared herself to play._

_ "That wasn't very descriptive, but I'll do my best," she whispered. _

"Watch where you're going!" someone yelled, dragging Kakashi back into awareness. He went to apologize, but the person was already long gone.

"You seem to be somewhere else today my friend," the fortune teller said from behind Kakashi. "Have you been looking for me?"

"You should know. Aren't you a fortune teller?" Kakashi asked as he sat back down at her table. She smiled at him as she poured some tea. "I haven't come for a reading, but for answers."

"Answers?" she asked, setting the cup in front of him and pouring one for herself. "To what?"

"Is your name Mae?" he asked as she lifted her cup to her lips. Before she had the chance to take a sip, she put it down and stared at Kakashi as if he were a ghost.

"Who told you that?" she demanded, her voice rising with anger.

"I heard it," he said quickly, somewhat intimidated by the woman's quick anger.

"From whom?" she yelled as she stood from her chair.

_"I hate my name," Mae complained as she kicked a clot of dirt in the path that the caravan was walking in. "Meredith? It's so foreign and strange."_

_ "I like your name," Mikazuki argued. "It's special."_

_ "Well, I don't. You're my best friend, right?" _

_ "Of course I am."_

_ "Then you can call me Mae. It'll be just between us, so Mother doesn't get upset."_

"If I tell you, you won't believe me," Kakashi insisted. The look on her face told Kakashi that if he didn't say something soon as an explanation, it could get bad. "I saw my mother calling you that. Mikazuki."

"You're Mikazuki's son?" she asked as she leaned over and stared at what was visible of Kakashi's face. "Your eyes are shaped the same, but besides that, I don't see much of a resemblance."

"I've been told I look a lot like my father," Kakashi said now that he was more relaxed.

"He was a shinobi?" she asked, also relaxing back into her seat." Mikazuki did marry a shinobi. I remember how angry her mother was about that."

_"You've betrayed us all! If you leave, do not come back!"_

"Yes, he was," Kakashi answered as he tried to subside the cringe from hearing the woman that he assumed was his grandmother yell like that in his head.

"How would you have seen her call me that? I hadn't seen her since…. Well, to put it nicely, I didn't know you existed," Mae said with a slight smile.

"I saw it in my head," Kakashi said as he carefully tested the waters of how much she would believe him. She seemed completely unfazed.

"You have your mother's abilities then? But you said you don't believe in divination," she answered.

"I don't… or didn't rather, but obviously I was wrong. I haven't had anything like this happen before in my entire life, yet out of the blue I'm hearing and seeing things that aren't thoughts of my own or events that have long been done or have yet to happen, and it's leaving me here to rifle through it all to discover what's really important," Kakashi confessed with a tinge of irritation.

"She always described it as one big painting," Mae said as she leaned back in her chair. "Imagine that the entire timeline of human existence, from when the first person was born until the very last person died was an exceptionally large painting. What she would see would be a zoomed in picture of the tiniest corner of the large painting, and then she was stuck trying to make sense of it."

"That's exactly it," Kakashi said quickly. Mae smiled at him as she saw tints of her long gone best friend in small things he did. "I'm sorry for asking so many questions, but do you know anything else about this or what it may be trying to tell me?"

Mae hesitated, closing her eyes and truly thinking before she would answer. Her old mind didn't move as fast as it use to, but it flicked through any memory of Mikazuki that she had in the desire to help him.

"I'm sorry, but no," she said as she pulled a piece of paper from under her table. "If you think of any other questions though, here is the address of my home. I don't live their very much during the year, but I will get back to you as soon as I can, if you mail me."

She slipped him the small piece of paper with her scribbled address on it.

"Her destiny is yours now," she said as she laid her hand on top of his. "She's passed it on to you. She must have trusted that you would be able to finish what she had started."

On the other side of the Capital City, Naruto and Sasuke were walking together, after Sakura abandoned them to visit with some of her friends from the academy that she hadn't seen in a long time. There was a comfortable silence amongst the two shinobi that could either be taken as they both didn't like each other, or they were friends. Either way, it was unnatural for Naruto to remain quiet this long, so he had to find some way to break the silence.

"So, uh," he started as Sasuke walked up to one of the booths. "Hey! Don't ignore me."

"I'm not ignoring you, idiot," Sasuke said as he turned around with two popsicles. "It's really hot out here with all of these people. Want it?"

"You bought this… for me?" Naruto asked cautiously as he watched a drip of red popsicle make its way down the icy treat.

"Who else would it be for?" Sasuke asked as he shoved his arm out and held the red popsicle in Naruto's face. "Take it before it melts on me."

Naruto took the sticky snack from Sasuke and continued walking with him, sucking on the melting popsicle the whole way. It wasn't a drastic change in their bond, but it was a start.


	5. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: I appreciate all support and constructive criticism. This chapter is a little shorter, but there are some longer ones ahead. I plan on finishing this story within a week or two. Thank you and enjoy :)**

* * *

Chapter 4

_"What he did was a mistake," Jiraiya said to an angry faced Mikazuki. "No one's denying that."_

_ "Saving your friends is a mistake?" Mikazuki asked coldly as she stared at the sanin. _

_ "Shinobi are tools, not people. His mission was unsuccessful, so it was a mistake."_

_ "How can you say that about your friend?" _

_ "One of the main laws of being a shinobi is that the mission's success comes before-"_

_ "Then your rules are wrong! They are wrong and should be abolished immediately!"_

Waking up after the first night of being home from a mission was always rough, but today Kakashi felt like someone had beaten him with a baseball bat overnight. His entire body ached deeply with soreness while his head pounded like a booming timpani. Nevertheless, he had a set schedule for today, and if he was to get on Lady Tsunade's good side and make it happen, he would have to show up before she was completely awake.

"You want to do what?!" Tsunade asked with aggravation at the lazy jonin before her.

"Take some time off," Kakashi repeated. Never had Kakashi taken time off until he was absolutely required to, but he needed some time to figure his new abilities out before he would start going on missions again. It wasn't hard for him to picture himself getting carelessly injured because of a distracting memory polluting his mind during battle. "Just a week or two. I'm sure I have vacation time saved."

The vein in Tsunade's forehead throbbed with stress as she took all of Kakashi's mission assignments for the past two weeks and held them in front of him.

"I had all of these missions planned for you during this time you want to take off," she growled as she slammed the papers back onto the desk. Kakashi was just relieved that she was slamming on the desk and not his head. "Now who am I going to find to take Team Seven on all of these missions?"

"Can't Iruka do it?" Kakashi asked, only to receive another evil glare.

"Iruka is not qualified," Tsunade said between her gritted teeth. Slowly, she calmed down, running her hand through her blonde hair. "Okay, how about this. If you can find someone to take your place for two weeks, I will CONSIDER giving you the time off, even though you've told me on such short notice."

"That's fair," Kakashi answered as he wracked his brain for someone to watch his team. Guy, Asuma, and Kurenai were all out. That left one other person, and all he knew was that he was going to have to leave his pride at the door if he wanted to get her to do it.

* * *

"Long time no see Kakashi," Anko said with a seductive smile as she sat on the roof of a station in the forest of death, eating dango. "What brings you here?"

"You, actually," Kakashi said as he stared up at the purple haired shinobi. Anko had always made him exceedingly uncomfortable, especially after her many drunken propositions to become friends with benefits, but Kakashi knew he needed the time off and she was the only one of his acquaintances that didn't have a team of her own.

"Me?" she asked as she ate the last dango and threw the skewer into a tree. "Is that so?"

"Yeah, I wanted to ask you a favor," he said from his safe distance from her. She leapt from the roof and landed right in front of him, resting her hands on her hips and staring up at his face like she could see through his mask. Kakashi subconsciously tugged on his shinobi vest's collar and took a step back.

"What kind of favor?" she asked as she took a big step forward and was practically chest to chest with Kakashi. Images of her under Orochimaru's guidance and her most recent confrontation with that sanin filled his mind, making her closeness burn his mind and causing him to jump back. He wasn't going to drag this out any longer.

"I need some time off and I'm looking for someone to take Team Seven on their missions," he said quickly, fighting through all of her painful memories to give himself enough clarity to create words that made coherent sentences. "Would you be able to do it for a week or two?"

When he looked back up, he saw a tinge of hurt in her eyes at his behavior towards her. _I am poison. He has made me poison, a ticking time bomb waiting to explode._

"I… Sure, I can do that," she said, a smile coming back on her face. _He can't be mine. Never will be mine. It was stupid of me to think that he would be asking something else. He has enough baggage of his own. But I thought… maybe he would understand._

"Thank you," Kakashi said as he felt embarrassed for having to hear such intimate thoughts of hers, thoughts that she doesn't want him hearing. "I really appreciate this Anko… How about I make it up to you sometime, with dinner?"

"You don't have to do that," she said quickly. _He feels bad now._

"I want to. We're friends, remember?" Kakashi said with his signature smile, making sure she understood that he was trying to be friendly, because truthfully he had no interest in her romantically. She smiled a little.

"Yeah, okay," she said with a nod. _Maybe he does get it._

"Great. I'll let Lady Tsunade know that you'll be taking my missions. Thank you so much," Kakashi said gratefully as he disappeared from the scene and back to the Hokage Mansion. As he walked through the building, something truly unsettling began occurring. Each of his comrades who walked by left him with a sense of death, showing him how their missions would play out and whether they would survive or not.

_"You would make a really good shinobi Mikazuki," Minato said happily as he ran katas with his best friend in her back yard. _

_ "I could never be a shinobi," she admitted as she moved with all the strength of a boulder but with the grace of a dancer. "My abilities make me see everyone as human, but to be a shinobi, you have to dehumanize them. It's very hard to kill someone when you can see their entire past, their present, and the future you'll be destroying."_

Of all people, Kakashi should know that the life of a shinobi is surrounded by death, but what he had never really spent much time thinking on was all of the people he had killed. There had to be more than what he could count on his hands, easily, and it's never really fazed him, yet when Obito, Rin, his father, and his sensei died, each left a scar on his heart, never to be healed. Does that mean he's scarred other people as well and just doesn't know it?

"So, did you find someone?" Tsunade asked when Kakashi walked into her office. At first, it didn't click that she was talking to him because all he could think about was the possibility that he's hurt so many people in the way that he's been hurt. "Kakashi?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Kakashi said with a slight bow. "Yes, Anko Mitarashi agreed to take my place."

Tsunade stared at him, her initial reaction now swept away with worry. Kakashi tried to avert his eyes before her memories filled his mind, but it was too late. All he could see was the violent and sudden deaths of her brother and her lover. He watched as their dreams of Tsunade were washed away into nothingness so quickly, so unexpectedly.

"Maybe you do need time off," Tsunade said as she opened one of her desk drawers and revealed a stack of papers. "You'll need to fill these out tonight and bring them back tomorrow."

"Okay," was all Kakashi said as he still tried to avoid her eyes and took the papers from her. The simple contact showed him the memory of her and Naruto's bet, and him winning. A slight smile crept onto his face as he felt a sense of pride for his student's accomplishment.

"Get some rest," Tsunade said softly.

Rest. That was something Kakashi hadn't had in most of his life. Everyday he pushed and pushed, making himself stronger, strong enough to protect those he loved. Now was no different. He was given this gift from his mother for a reason, and he needed to discover that before it was too late. The last thing he would be doing is resting.


	6. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Most of the quotes that I didn't make (pretty much all of the Naruto and Sasuke ones in italics) are taken from Naruto Volume 26. Also, this chapter and a few others coming up are extremely long. Let me know in the review section if you guys like that, or if you'd rather me split them into two parts. Besides all of that, thank you for the support, and I'd love any compliments or criticism you have. Enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 5

Kakashi's day was far from over after he had officially received permission to take time off work. The stack of papers he still had to fill out would have to wait until later that night, because the next item on his itinerary required daylight. One of the keys to discovering what he needed to accomplish had to be discovering who his mother was. While he had never seen anything of hers in his house, he knew that she had to have been alive when his father died, but she decided to erase herself from his mind.

"It's impossible for someone to wipe themselves from existence completely," Kakashi told himself as he slid the one key he never used into the door of an abandoned house that he technically owned.

_"Sakumo, you know I don't like surprises," Mikazuki complained as she walked up the stone paved path that lead to the front porch of her new home, her eyes covered by Sakumo's headband as a makeshift blindfold._

_ "I know, but I spent a lot of time building this, so I want you to get the full effect," Sakumo said as he guided her up the wooden steps with his hands on her shoulders. He took his right hand off of her shoulder to reveal a key from his pocket and slid it into the keyhole. With a simple click, the door swung open to a freshly built house that smelled of fresh wood and wet paint. _

_ "Is this what I think it is?" Mikazuki asked quietly as Sakumo slid her blindfold off. "Oh my… Sakumo! It's perfect!" She bolted off into the house, running into all of the different rooms, her excitement growing with each room. "Is this….?" She asked as she opened the last room to reveal a unisex nursery, complete with hand built baby furniture. She turned around to find Sakumo standing in the doorstep. "You built all of this?"_

_ "I can do more things than be a shinobi," Sakumo said with a smile. Without another word, Mikazuki threw her arms around her husband, taking a deep breath to inhale the entire moment._

_ "You like it?" he asked as he scooped her legs up and held her bridal style. "Was it worth staying in Jiraiya's apartment for a few months?"_

_ "Yes yes yes," she said with teary eyes. "It's home…"_

The normal feelings of dread that filled Kakashi when he entered his old home were now washed away by that memory as he stood in the entrance to the house. He clicked on the lights of the main room, which much to his surprise still worked, and headed down the hall and to the attic. He knew for a fact that there was nothing about his mother in any of the room's downstairs, since he had been in all of them on several occasions, but the attic was a place that he had never had a reason to go into, so anything could be up there. He carefully lowered the stairs from the ceiling of the hallway, being as cautious as possible as the stairs creaked from being unused. Carefully testing each ring of the ladder, Kakashi climbed up into the attic, only to be pleasantly surprised by how nice it was.

The expectation had been that the attic would be a dark crawl space in the top of the house, but that was far from the case. The triangular prism shaped room had windows at the end of each side, bringing in enough light for Kakashi to see without having to use any artificial light. There weren't that many boxes up in the attic that was built to hold the memories of generations of Hatakes, but that made Kakashi's job all the easier.

The entire room had only two boxes, his old baby furniture and a beat up trunk. Sitting in the corner of the room sat some blankets and a jar.

_"Now where is my pup hiding?" Mikazuki asked playfully as she climbed up the ladder to the attic. Unlike how it was presently, the boxes and trunk were pushed over to the furthest corner while the rest of the attic was covered in drawings, toys, and blankets. As she looked around, she could see a tip of white hair sticking out from behind the trunk._

_ "Hmmm. I wonder where he could be!" she said as she walked lazily past the trunk, only to quickly turn and grab him. "Got you!" she yelled as she fell to the floor and smothered her three year old son in kisses. He giggled and tried to push away, eventually giving in and snuggling next to his mom._

_ Suddenly, it was deep into the night, and over in the corner was a makeshift tent. Inside sat six year old Kakashi, his mother, a stack of books, and a jar of fireflies. The two lay side by side on their stomachs, their heads resting on the pillows. _

_ "When is Father coming home?" Kakashi asked as he stared deeply into the jar of fireflies._

_ "I don't know," Mikazuki answered honestly. "But I know that he will. He always does."_

Kakashi walked over to the pile of blankets and began folding them, knocking over the jar on accident. Carefully, he lifted the jar off the floor and looked inside at the decomposed remains of fireflies that had been abandoned before they could be released. After setting the jar back on the floor, he made his way over to the boxes and trunk, deciding that if there was anything worthwhile up in the attic, it would be in those. He started with the closest of the two, using his kunai knife to cut through the tape that had sealed it shut.

Rather than finding the useful information he was looking for, Kakashi opened the box to discover small baby clothes and blankets packed tightly together. As he grabbed to pull past them and search the box further, that song ran through his head again.

"Hi Mother," he said to himself as the song progressively became louder. "What are you going to show me now?"

_In the main room of the Hatake house paced Mikazuki, rocking her restless son. _

_ "You don't like sleeping very much do you?" she asked as she sat down on the couch and stared down at the silver haired baby. "I understand, but I like sleeping Pup."_

_ "You know he can't understand you," Sakumo pointed out as he walked in from outside training. She rolled her eyes at him as she continued focusing on her son._

_ "He's a genius Sakumo. It wouldn't surprise me if he understood me," she said as she traced Kakashi's plump face gently with her pointer finger. "Your father just doesn't understand how smart you are, huh Pup?"_

_ Sakumo removed his dirty vest, leaving it on the floor next to his shoes and headband, only so he could join his small family on the couch. His arms looped around Mikazuki's stomach and pulled her back so they were all lying together._

_ "He certainly does squirm a lot," Sakumo pointed out as he stared down at the restless Kakashi._

_ "He can't sleep," she said, all the while hoping that it wasn't because he inherited her abilities. She wouldn't tell Sakumo of her worries though, not until she could confirm them. "He just needs a lullaby, that's all."_

_ "You mean that one, in that strange language?" Sakumo asked drowsily as he rested his head in the nook of her shoulder. _

_ "Mmhmm," she confirmed as she closed her eyes and began to sing, lulling both her husband and her son into a deep, uninterrupted sleep._

Kakashi took a breath and pushed the box aside, unsure of exactly why he was overwhelmed with emotion over that. Maybe it was because he hadn't known much about her, but all of Kakashi's life he had never actually mourned the loss of his mother. She was someone he hadn't known, so what was there to mourn? But now as he discovered that not only had he known her, but they had been so close, it made him ache to know this person again. All of these memories felt more like dreams, not like they had actually happened, so in a way they taunted him and showed him what he'd never have again.

After waiting for a second, he peeled open the tape on the next box, only to reveal old photo albums and family certificates. At the very top was his mother's citizenship certificate, right under it was their wedding certificate, and then all of their birth certificates. Surprisingly enough, he didn't have any memories that came with these, but he was positive maybe one would come with the photo album. As soon as he opened it, he knew it wasn't going to happen because it was completely empty. Had she been able to destroy all of their pictures before she disappeared?

"One more," Kakashi said to himself as he grabbed the trunk and slid it over to himself. Even though the lock was jammed, it wasn't hard from him to pry the old trunk open to reveal a collection of strange things, ranging from dry flowers, to beads, to strange black cases. One of the beads in particular caught his eye. The small wooden bead was stained a dark color with the Konoha insignia carved into it.

_"Papa?" Seventeen year old Mikazuki called as she poked her head into the tent her parents shared within their caravan. Unlike the way Kakashi had always seen his mother, she wore her hair in many tight braids with beads on them and bright red eye makeup. She still wore long flowing dresses, but the dress in this memory was more baggy and built to last than he ever remembered hers being._

_ "Yes Child?" a large man with a long graying beard and long hair asked as he turned from a notebook he was writing in. _

_ "I know this is very out of tradition," she started as she dug her barefoot into the dirt. "But, I was hoping that you would do the honor of unraveling my braids…"_

_ "That's supposed to be done by your mother," he answered gently as he turned to see his daughter's eyes filling with tears._

_ "Mama refuses," she said as she sniffled, running her sleeves against her eyes. Without asking anything else, he moved his notebook to the side and patted the ground in front of him. In her graceful manner, she sat on her knees in front of her father, staring at the ground sadly. _

_ "Is this the bead Ayame made you?" he asked as he slid off a bright purple bead with red polka dots. The teary eyed Mikazuki nodded, smiling somewhat._

_ "She's such a good little sister," she said quietly. "I don't know what I'll do without her, never seeing her again."_

_ "Never seeing her again? Mikazuki, you're marrying, not dying," her father said with a hearty laugh, only making her cry harder. "What's wrong my child?"_

_ "Mama said I'm to not come back," Mikazuki said through her tears. "She said I've abandoned her and you by leaving."_

_ "I will change her mind," he said simply with all of the confidence in the world as he unraveled more braids. _

_ "How?" she asked as she rubbed her eyes with sleeves again. _

_ "Do not worry. I will," he assured as he pulled another bead off. He stared at curiously, rolling the wooden bead in his hand. "Who gave you this one?"_

_ "Which one?" she asked as she turned around to see the bead. "Oh, well, I was writing Sakumo, and I explained to him how the month before we marry, we have the tradition of wearing braided hair, each braid with a bead to represent a person or a memory dear to us, so that when we are old, we will have our memories. So, he made it for me. I think he felt guilty for being unable to come do our traditions with us."_

_ "He's a shinobi. Besides, the boy is so timid, he has a hard time fitting in here," her father said with a laugh as he remembered the few times that Sakumo had stayed with them. Normally, he was the quiet spectator to their celebrations. _

_ "Yes," she said quietly._

_ "But you fit," he assured. "I would not be consenting to your marriage if you didn't. He does something to you that lights you up even more than you had before." _

Without the aid of any of the other items in the trunk, memories started flowing freely to Kakashi. He didn't have to open the cases to know they housed violins, or examine any of the other objects.

_"Sakumo," Mikazuki's father called to Kakashi's father when he was much younger. The young man tensed slightly. "I won't hurt you, I promise."_

_ Sakumo cautiously followed the man as he gestured for him to follow him away from the camp grounds that were slowly dying down to rest. They walked in pure silence at first through the open grassy fields that the caravan had set their campsite at. About one week out of every three months they stayed in this same area, which was the closest to Konoha. For the years that Sakumo had known Mikazuki, this was the only time they were able to see each other. The rest of their communication was through letters delivered by Mikazuki's father's messenger bird._

_ "I wanted to talk to you about something," her father said gently as he clasped his hands, still thinking about how he wanted to word things. "I understand that Mikazuki has been begging you to take her to your village."_

_ "Yeah," he answered, relaxing somewhat now that he knew the topic of the conversation. _

_ "I think it's a good idea," he said with a nod. "But, you must understand, Mikazuki isn't like normal people. She has… abilities."_

_ "I know," he answered. "She's told me about them."_

_ "She has?" he asked with a smile. "Then our conversation will be much simpler… You have to understand Sakumo, that her visions, they can cause her much trouble if surrounded by too many new people… I am honestly not sure what will happen if you bring her into the village…"_

_ "Sakumoooo! Walk faster!" Mikazuki yelled excitedly as she ran ahead down the dirt path that leads to Konoha. Her whining didn't budge him, since in order for him to get the few days off to be with her, he had worked like a madman the week before. _

_ "Miki, the village isn't going anywhere," he reminded her, only to get an eye roll. _

_ "I know Sakumo! But I want to go in now!" she whined as she waited for him to catch up. It started to click just a little. "Sakumo… are you injured?"_

_ "Just a little," he said as he brushed it off. "It's nothing serious, I promise."_

_ "Okay," she said seriously, her excitement gone. Of course, once the gates came within their vision, it started back up again. Rather than trying to get him to move faster though, she just jumped around and rambled in the way she always did when she was excited, her words jumping between her ancient language and the language Sakumo spoke. Sometimes she'd forget that he doesn't speak it and leave him totally in the dark when she started talking in it._

_ "Miki, I can't understand you again," he reminded her, which only made her laugh as she switched back._

_ "I said, are you going to introduce me to your friends?" she said again as they stepped in the gate._

_ "I don't have that many," he said with a shrug, but she wasn't paying much attention anymore anyways._

_ "What's that?" she asked as she walked over to one of the stores and looked in the window. Before Sakumo even had the chance to get to her, she'd gone off somewhere else, wanting to absorb everything right at that very second. _

_ "I'm starting to think it would be hopeless to tell her to slow down," he said to himself. _

"Boss?" Kakashi heard being called from the main floor of the house, completely yanking him out of the memories. Only then did he realize how late it was as he noticed the setting sun from the window.

"Up here Pakuun," Kakashi called to his hound as he pulled the two violin cases out of the trunk and put them next to him, the vague memory of music lessons touching his mind before he brushed it away.

"What are you doing?" Pakuun asked, a strange sort of alarm filling his voice.

"Looking through old things. Why?" Kakashi asked as he looked back at his dog. Pakuun didn't have to answer. The answer was revealed to him.

_Minato walked into the Hatake house with a sense of mourning as he carried one of his best friend's in his arms. She was in a daze, her head lightly bobbing from each step as blood and water dripped off of her and onto the floor. In the other room, they could hear Kakashi coughing since had caught a relatively nasty cold from overworking for the past few months._

_ "Do you want to see him?" Minato asked his dying friend. She nodded tiredly, not speaking because breathing was enough of a strain._

_ "M-mistress?" little Pakuun yipped in alarm when he saw her. "W-what happened?"_

_ "I… you can never… speak of this to Kakashi, understand?" she said weakly. Knowing that she didn't have the energy to explain, Pakuun simply nodded, running from the house quickly to escape what he'd seen._

"You knew this whole time," Kakashi accused as he stared at his faithful companion. "You knew that I had known my mother this whole time, that 7 years of my life had been fabricated, and you didn't tell me?"

"I couldn't. Mistress strictly instructed-"

"I don't care what she instructed! I'm your master," Kakashi yelled, becoming much angrier than he ever had before at his dog. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"What difference would it have made Boss? You wouldn't have believed me. You wouldn't have remembered. I don't even know how you remember now," Pakuun fought back as he stared up at Kakashi.

"I was given my memories back, in a way, along with my mother's powers, or are they my own. I don't really know or understand a lot of this," Kakashi said as he rubbed his head. Pakuun's sympathy for his master erased his irritation.

"Let's go back to the apartment," the ninja hound insisted. "Mistress would always say that too many memories in one day would make her tired and ill."

Kakashi agreed, but not because of his exhaustion or pounding headache, but because he knew that he could get answers. He now had two alive creatures that could tell him about his mother and help him discover what he had to do, which was further than he had been yesterday, if only a little. Pakuun probably wouldn't tell him much, but after getting Jiraiya to down a few bottles of sake, he could find out exactly what he needs to know.

The two walked through the residential area of Konoha and back towards the academy funded apartments slowly. He hadn't noticed until he walked next to Pakuun, but Kakashi's stride had become shorter, or he had begun walking slower. _It must be an effect from having so many senses to take in._

"Sensei?" Kakashi heard as they walked, making him pause to look over at his raven haired student. "Could I talk to you for a minute?"

Instantly, Kakashi knew something was wrong. Sasuke normally talked with a tone of self confidence, usually toeing the line of arrogance, but now he spoke in a self doubting tone worthy of Hinata.

"Sure," Kakashi agreed as he stopped to wait for the genin to catch up with him. "So what's up?"

"I've been thinking about what you told me about love and hate," Sasuke said as he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked alongside his sensei. "I... I'm not sure if I agree with you."

"Oh?" Kakashi asked as they moved slowly through the streets. Sasuke adjusted his stride to match his sensei's. "And why is that?"

"Because, I've started trying to let people in, to start caring more, but nothing has changed. I don't feel that need to protect anyone. Anyone I would want to protect is long dead," Sasuke said, his voice deepening with anger at the thought of his family being slaughtered.

"What about Naruto and Sakura?" Kakashi asked as he kept his eyes away from his student and his thoughts occupied as to avoid seeing any horrific memories of Sasuke past. He had enough ghosts floating in his head. The last thing he needed was more from his student.

"They can take care of themselves," Sasuke pointed out. "Naruto… he has gotten to be so much stronger."

_"You're one of the ones I want to fight."_

"It's likely that he'll surpass everyone," Kakashi replied. Sasuke tensed up in jealousy at the thought of such a knucklehead becoming better than himself. "Wouldn't you consider him your friend?"

"No," Sasuke said almost too quickly.

_"Tell me, what are you?"_

_ "Your friend."_

"You need to give yourself more time Sasuke," Kakashi said finally as he tried his hardest to block the voices for a moment. "It'll take time for you to readjust after shutting down for so long… I don't want you to live with the same kind of regret as I do."

The vision of Obito dying crammed itself into Kakashi's busy mind, pushing through all of the noise to remind him of why it was so important for him to help Sasuke. He had to stop him from making the same mistake. That was the only way he could ever make it up to Obito and himself.

"I don't see the point," Sasuke mumbled. "I can't see myself making anything other than fair-weather friends anyways. You and everyone else can sympathize all you want, but no one truly understands. Not even Naruto."

_"YOU WERE ALONE TO BEGIN WITH! WHAT CAN YOU KNOW ABOUT ME?! This pain is born from my family bonds! How could you ever know what it means to __**lose**__ anything!?"_

"There are many different kinds of losses that can be related to what you experienced," Kakashi tried. "You cannot push someone else's pain aside and call it unworthy of notice just because you think yours is greater. Keep that in mind Sasuke."

"I just don't see how I will ever reach what I'm trying to accomplish if I keep down the path you're leading me to," Sasuke said finally.

"The life of an avenger is not a life at all. You need to drop it, as painful as it is," Kakashi said sharply. Sasuke stopped walking as he glared up at his sensei.

"How do you know?! You don't know a damn thing about what I'm going through!" Sasuke yelled, his eyes shooting daggers at Kakashi. "My parents, my entire clan was brutally murdered by someone who was my idol! How could you even suggest trying to let that go?!"

"Sasuke, calm down," Kakashi said quietly as surrounding passersby hurried away. Sasuke turned away from his sensei and started down the path slowly, deliberately not looking back at Kakashi. "I want you to consider something for a moment before you run off," the young boy froze, still not facing Kakashi. "Your brother kept you alive for a reason. You say he wanted you to become strong and build up your hatred for him, but wouldn't it have been easier for him to kill you? Don't you think that maybe, just maybe, he couldn't kill you because he loved you too much?"

Before Kakashi could say more, Sasuke was gone, disappearing in a cloud of smoke back to the Uchiha grounds.

_"If I cut our bond, I will become stronger, much stronger."_


	7. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: Sorry for falling behind on my projected schedule (finishing by the end of this week). Life got busy and I didn't have time to edit the chapter, but now it's done. If you're interested in the songs that I imagined during the two scenes with violin, the faster one is "Revelry" and the slower is "Willow", both by Emilie Autumn. Thank you for your patience and continued support. Enjoy. **

* * *

Chapter 6

_"Just focus on the target," Sakumo instructed as he crouched down next to his son in the backyard of the Hatake house. Four year old Kakashi gripped a shuriken in his hand and stared intensely at the wooden target at the other end of the yard, trying to focus with all of his might. "Good, now keep your wrist straight and imagine the shuriken landing right in the center."_

_ Kakashi wound back to throw, but hesitated for a split second, losing all of the power he had put into it. The quick moving weapon spun out, taking a curve and hitting the side of the house instead of anywhere near the target. Sakumo sighed with slight frustration._

_ "You can't hesitate Kakashi, not even for a second. Hesitation is just opening yourself up for an attack," Sakumo said strictly as he walked over to the house and pulled the shuriken out of the wall. "Now try again, and this time don't hesitate."_

_ Kakashi took the shuriken back from his father and started the process over again. After he felt as though he was focused enough, he threw the star with a straight wrist and the intentions of hitting the middle of the target. With a solid thunk, the weapon embedded itself into the dead center, much to the father and the son's delight._

_ "Thataboy!" Sakumo said with a grin as he crossed his arms and stared at the shuriken. "Now all you need is some repetition. We'll throw a few more rounds and then-"_

_ Kakashi's focus was out the window as the creak of the front door opening touched his ears. His mother was home from her week trip to visit her family in the desert. Sakumo and Kakashi weren't allowed to go with her for reasons that Kakashi was told were not important, so he had spent the week with his father. It was nice for him to see the man who was almost never home, but he missed his mother._

_ "Mother!" Kakashi called as he ran through the sliding doors and into the house. Standing inside was not his mother, but Jiraiya, who stared at the boy with amusement._

_ "I didn't know your son was a mama's boy Sakumo," Jiraiya teased as Sakumo walked into the house. Kakashi blushed and stepped away from the tall, overpowering man. _

_ "Hello Jiraiya. This is…. Well, unexpected," Sakumo said carefully as he judged the look on the sannin's face. "Kakashi, go outside and practice."_

_ Without a second of hesitation, Kakashi ran back outside to practice his shuriken accuracy, his face still red from embarrassing himself in front of Jiraiya. He should've known those footsteps weren't his mother's, but wishful thinking clouded his judgment. _

_ "We really need you for this mission," Jiraiya pleaded to Sakumo inside the house. "Besides, it would do your kid some good to stay home alone, maybe man him up a little. Mikazuki is making him too soft."_

_ "He'll be a good shinobi one day," Sakumo said, although in his mind he agreed with Jiraiya. It was a topic of many arguments with Mikazuki about how they were raising Kakashi. _

_ "You're sending our son out to die, and for what?!" she yelled at him almost every day before he enrolled Kakashi in the academy. No matter how many times Sakumo explained to her that he wasn't actually going to be put in a life or death situation for a long time, she still insisted that he had signed his son up to die. In the end, the couple compromised by letting Kakashi go to the academy and letting Mikazuki teach him her ancient language and music. _

_ "If only because his genes make him so," Jiraiya sighed. "But that isn't the point. The point is that we need you for this mission. You said it yourself that Mikazuki won't be home for a few more days, and we should be home by then, so what's the hurt in it?"_

_ Sakumo was convinced, knowing in his mind that Kakashi could handle himself for a day or two and that Mikazuki didn't have to know. Sometimes it was better that she didn't know so much. So it was settled._

* * *

_Coming home from missions was always a relaxing thing for Sakumo, especially after an extremely hard S ranked espionage mission. He could picture it now: Kakashi being fast asleep, the house being pin drop quiet, and he could rest without interruption. The smile that made its way to his face as he unlocked the door and walked down the hall to his bedroom quickly disappeared when he saw Mikazuki sitting in bed, arms crossed, full out glare enacted. _

"_Hello," she said as she tried to contain her unadulterated rage. Any sort of shinobi, be it a genin or an ANBU, Sakumo could handle them without fear, but handling his wife when she was angry at him was an entirely different battle. _

_ "Hello," he said carefully as he pulled off his vest and laid it on the drawer, all the while her glare followed his movements. "You're home early."_

_ "I am," she verified. "Came home this morning."_

_ "How was it?" he asked as he pulled off his uniform and pulled on pajamas._

_ "As expected. My mother and brother still won't speak to me, Mae wasn't there, my father was a jovial as ever, and Ayame is still my little sister," she rattled off. "So, how was your mission that you weren't supposed to go on while I was gone?"_

_ "Miki, I can explain," he said cautiously as he sat down on the bed next to her. She cocked her eyebrow and rattled her fingers against her crossed arms, waiting for any sort of a good explanation._

_ "Jiraiya really needed me for this mission," Sakumo started._

_ "Your son really needed you here," Mikazuki said back. "You know that boy barely knows you because you're gone so much of the time. He's going to grow up not knowing his father, just like you did."_

_ "My father was dead Miki. There's a big difference," Sakumo argued quietly, well aware of his son sleeping in the room across the hall. Mikazuki stood up, her eyes showing disappointment instead of sadness._

_ "No, the difference is miniscule Sakumo. I cannot be his mother and his father. You need to get your priorities in line," she said as she stood up and walked out of the room. Sakumo sighed, reinforcing to himself that he was better than his father, more present anyhow. He was alive and made sure to be alive so he could be here for his family. How was that not enough?_

"Why are you coming to me about this?" Jiraiya asked with irritation as he hid in the bushes near the bath house, his binoculars and notepad ready for some research. Pakuun sighed, already thinking that this was a bad idea.

"Boss found out about Mistress Mikazuki. I don't know how, but he knows now, and ever since I brought him home last night, he hasn't moved. You're the only person left alive who remembers Mistress, so I thought that maybe you could-"

"If you're asking me to comfort a grown man then you've come to the wrong person. He's a grown up. He can handle himself. I have work to do," Jiraiya brushed off the ninja hound as he pulled his binoculars back up to his face.

"I don't think he needs any comforting," Pakuun defended, not liking his boss being reflected in a weak light. "But… I think he needs answers. You knew Mistress really well, so you could answer anything he would ask."

"I still don't see what's in this for me," Jiraiya pointed out.

"He would probably pay you, or at least buy you some sake," Pakuun threw out, which was enough for Jiraiya to pack up his things and follow him to the academy apartment complexes.

Now more aware and ready for another day in his family's attic, Kakashi sat on the corner of his bed with Make Out Paradise in his hands, trying to read a little of it before he went to deal with more memories. Much to his pleasure, he had become much better at filtering out what made its way into his mind and was able to block out most of the surrounding noise when he really focused. Even with this focus, he couldn't help but hear Jiraiya's voice coming up towards his door.

"That's convenient," Kakashi said to himself as he opened the door to see Jiraiya and his dog having a slight argument about payment. "Yo. What's up?"

"You want to know about your mom?" Jiraiya asked with as much dread as possible. Kakashi arched his eyebrows in interest. "Buy a few bottles of sake and I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

Kakashi cracked open the first bottle of sake as he sat with Jiraiya at the small table in his house. The older man's face kept flashing between annoyed, bored, and irritated as Kakashi poured him a cup of sake and put it in front of him.

"What do you want to know first?" Jiraiya asked as he downed his first cup and started pouring his second.

"How did she die?" Kakashi asked, a flash of surprise touching the sannin's face.

"You want to know that? Not the good stuff, like how she met your father or what she was like or anything else?" Jiraiya asked, his annoyed tone reviving.

"Those are on the list," Kakashi said with more impatience than he intended. With a sigh, Jiraiya put down his drink and stared up at Kakashi with dark eyes while the copy nin opened his mind to any thoughts that may come to him from what he was about to be told.

"She was tortured to death," Jiraiya said grimly as the image of Kakashi's mother being chained and violently whipped came into his mind.

_"This is for my brother you stupid bitch," the man yelled as he effortlessly tossed Mikazuki into a tree. She tightened her teeth, trying to show no pain at the brutal beating._

"Why?" Kakashi asked.

"I don't know. The only one who knew was the Fourth. He was with her when she died."

_"Mikazuki!" a young Minato yelled as he ran towards the end of the river, where his friend was floating lifelessly. When he reached her, he could finally see how absolutely broken and destroyed her body was, even though her face reflected peace. _

_ "Minato, my good friend," she said weakly. "I am glad I will see you one last time, to will to you what I know now. But, I must ask of you a few last requests..."_

"Did he ever talk to you about it?" he asked quickly as he tried to force his mind to read more into that last memory with no avail.

"No, it bothered him," Jiraiya answered as he started into his next cup of sake. "Can we talk about something less morbid?"

"Okay," Kakashi agreed when he realized he wasn't going to find out anything more on his mother's death through Jiraiya's limited knowledge of the subject. "You mentioned knowing how they met?"

A satisfied smile slid across the sannin's face as he poured himself another drink.

"Yeah, I was there actually. Your father and I were on our way back to the village after an S ranked bodyguard mission," he started.

_"We're out of ration pills," 16-year-old Sakumo confirmed as the exhausted shinobi trudged back to the village, which seemed as though it was continents away. Jiraiya sighed as he rubbed his tired eyes and looked around._

_ "Then we'll need to find somewhere to rest for the night," he reasoned as they continued walking, looking for any signs pointing towards civilization. Rather than finding a village that they had been hoping for, they saw a large bonfire in the distance with tents and horse-drawn carts surrounding it. "There's our ticket."_

_ "A caravan? But Jiraiya, they're probably gypsies who will rob us blind," Sakumo pointed out, but it was too late. Jiraiya was already in the line of vision of the people, so Sakumo followed quickly behind him._

_ "Can we help you?" a middle-aged woman asked as she broke away from the large crowd to see the visitors. _

_ "Sorry for imposing ourselves on you all, but we're two exhausted Konoha shinobi who simply are searching for lodging. We don't mean any of you any harm," Jiraiya said carefully as all of the people looked at the shinobi like they were aliens. _

_ "Shinobi aren't welcome here," she said sharply, only to be scooped up in the arms of a large man with a greying beard that reached the middle of his chest. Her scowl was unfazed while it was completely contradicted with his large grin._

_ "Do we have visitors Chiasa?" he asked with his low booming voice. "Welcome, welcome!"_

_ "Daichi, they're shinobi," Chiasa said bitterly as she scrunched her nose at the two of them._

_ "And we are nomads! What is the difference? We are all members of the same race and these two look very weary," Daichi said with warmth. "Now welcome our guests. Warm yourselves by the fire and have some of my lovely wife's stew before retiring for the night."_

_ A boy around the age of twelve with dirty blonde hair and Chiasa's untrusting eyes came up behind the pair and started speaking to his parents in another language that Sakumo and Jiraiya didn't understand. His father spoke back to him in a joyful tone before turning back to the shinobi._

_ "This is my son Isamu. These are our guests Isamu, and it is not polite to scowl at them," Daichi said with a slight scold as the boy stormed off with his mother to prepare their guests some dinner._

_ "Thank you very much for your hospitality," Sakumo said gratefully as Daichi led them into the circle of people all surrounding the fire. _

_ "We must all be kind to our fellow man," Daichi said simply as a small girl in long purple robes ran up to him, tugging on his red robes with glee as she started talking to him in their language. She stopped doing so when she noticed the two new members of the circle._

_ "Hello," she said cheerfully as she walked over to the two of them. "What're you doin' here?" _

_ "These are our guests Ayame. Now go find your sister and have her prepare beds for them," Daichi said as he playfully shooed his youngest daughter away. _

_ "I told you this was a good idea," Jiraiya said with a smile as he took a sip of the soup put before them. "Good food, a warm fire, nice company, and a place to sleep. Maybe I could even get some research done…"_

_ "Don't get us thrown out," Sakumo warned as Daichi came back and stood near the fire._

_ "My friends, tonight is a very special occasion," he said in his booming voice as the people in the circle began cheering. "Not only is it our celebration of the approaching summer days, but also because we have two guests staying with us tonight. So, let us not only celebrate the warm and happy days ahead, but the bond each of us shares as human beings and occupants of this planet!"_

_ All of the baggy-dressed people cheered and began to rise as soon as Daichi stepped away. Almost instantly, a cheerful melody sprung from a few violins and the people started dancing. Sakumo laughed out of discomfort, himself being a stiff person who would normally avoid such situations, but Jiraiya on the other hand had seemed to be completely recovered from his weariness as he sprung to his feet and found a beautiful raven haired girl to dance with. _

_ "Lighten up Hatake!" Jiraiya called as he spun the girl he was trying to seduce and use for research. Sakumo ignored him as he finished eating and decided to watch all of the other dancers._

_ "Are you the shinobi?" a voice from behind him asked. He turned around to see a brown-haired girl wearing a purple robe-like dress. Her brown hair was braided in one long braid but then wrapped around the top of her head for the special occasion. Her brown eyes were soft and inviting like her father's while her shape was more willowy and thin like her mother. Sakumo realized he'd been staring for too long and looked away with slight embarrassment._

_ "Yeah, that would be me," Sakumo said as he rubbed the back of his head. She laid the pile of blankets she had been carrying next to him. _

_ "Feel free to enjoy yourself. And if you need anything, my name is Mikazuki."_

"You probably shouldn't have been partying on your way home from a mission," Kakashi commented, even though he could help but smile at story. "What happened next?"

"Well, I don't know how those two ended up getting close because your father, being as smooth as he is, turned your mom down about three times that night, but a few days after we got home, Sakumo received a letter by messenger bird from your mom, and they continued corresponding for a long time. She stopped by to visit whenever the caravan was nearby, and after… hmm, I think it was three years or so, they got married and she moved here," Jiraiya said as he became drowsy from drinking. "That's enough for today."

"Yeah, thanks," Kakashi said as he stood up and helped Jiraiya off the floor. He could feel a memory trying to push its way into his head, but he had to hold it off just for another few seconds, just until he got Jiraiya out of his house. Once he was gone, he welcomed it with open thoughts.

_Sakumo's deep sleep was ended by the sound of a sorrowful violin sounding in the distance. Being the light sleeper he was, just a tiny sound like this woke him up and would keep him awake until it stopped. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he followed the music to try to put an end to it._

_ About 100 feet or so from the camp stood Mikazuki, her eyes closed as she absorbed the surrounding moonlight and the music flowing through her fingers and releasing through her violin. She gently rocked as the notes flowed out and into the night sky. _

_ What Sakumo didn't know was why she was so upset. When she had seen him for the first time, the very first image that came into her head was of them dancing that night, followed by them becoming romantically involved and married. As soon as he had rejected her, it disappeared, along with an entirely new fate she could have taken._

_ "It's dangerous for you to be out here alone," Sakumo said, but it seemed as though his words fell on deaf ears. "Mikazuki?" She kept playing, leaving him with the impression that he was being ignored. After waiting for another minute or so, he turned to leave. "Well, goodbye then."_

_ "You remembered my name," she said as the last note rang out. Sakumo stopped in his steps and turned back around._

_ "Of course I did," he said, blushing at his own words. "You play very well."_

_ "Thank you," she said as she moved her violin away from the playing position. "So, do you really not dance, or just not with me?"_

_ "No, I really don't dance," Sakumo said as he put his hands in front of him as a sign of surrender. "If I did, I would have danced with you."_

_ "Then dance with me now," she said with a smile as she held out her empty hand to him. "There's no one watching."_

_ "With my luck, there probably is," he said quietly. "And just because no one is watching doesn't mean I know how to suddenly."_

_ "I'll teach you," she promised as she put her violin down and took a step towards him. "It isn't hard."_

_ "I…" he had run out of excuses, but why had he even been making them in the first place? The entire night, he had wished he was able to do what Jiraiya does and just dive in and have fun, but that gnawing voice in the back of his head told him not to. It wasn't something he was allowed to do, but why not? "Okay."_

_ She took his hand and pulled him a little further from camp for safe measure. The thoughts came back then, the memories that would be formed of them writing to each other, having secret meetings in the outlying forests of Konoha. Just little snippets of a life together played through her head._

_ "Now then, take this hand, and hold my hand like this," she said as intertwined their fingers in the hand that she had used to grab him. "And take your other hand and put it right here." She grabbed his other hand and put it at her waist, making him blush even more. "I've never seen a shinobi blush so much," she giggled as she put her hand on his shoulder and they began to move in a rhythm. After he began to get the hang of it, Sakumo began leading in a very easy slow dance._

_ "Did something happen with shinobi here?" he asked after he became comfortable with the movements. "Chiasa, I think her name was, seemed very unhappy with us being here."_

_ "That's my mother," she said with a sad smile. "and yes, a year ago we were attacked by shinobi. I don't know what village they were from, but they raided out caravans and killed most of our men. Most of us have moved on, but some haven't. My uncle was one of those killed, so I'm sure you can understand why my mother is cautious."_

_ "I'm sorry," he apologized for these unknown shinobi._

_ "It isn't your fault," she insisted. "Besides, you seem… different. Shinobi have always stricken me as scary, but you and your friend don't really have that effect."_

_ "We're scary when we have to be," he replied as he started yawning._

_ "Oh, that's right, you were sleeping. I'm sorry," she said as she stopped them mid dance and let go. "You have a long journey still, yes?"_

_ "Yeah, I should get some sleep," he said, even though he still lingered. "Can I… see you again sometime?"_

_ "I promise we will meet again." _


	8. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: The small snippet of a song Mikazuki sings is from the song Ocean Gypsy by Blackmore's Night. Thank you all for the continued support and I hope you enjoy. I'm estimating that this story will be about 11-12 chapters (including an epilogue). Enjoy.**

Chapter 7

"I am so sorry Lady Tsunade," Kakashi apologized as he dropped off his paperwork a few days late to the Hokage. She didn't say anything to him and didn't even look mad. If anything, there was a look of pity on her face. "Lady Tsunade?"

"Are you alright Kakashi?" she asked as she stood up and looked at him closer. "Something seems different."

"Different?" he asked as he took a step back. Tsunade stared at him as she tried to figure out what was different exactly, only leading him to feel more uncomfortable. "I should be going Lady Tsunade. Thanks for being so understanding-"

"Wait," she said as she walked over to her filing cabinet and pulled his file. She stared down at the picture he had taken a year ago for his identification and then back up at him. Something was distinctly different, but it was just something she couldn't put her finger on. "Never mind. I'll see you in two weeks Kakashi."

The truth of the matter was that a lot was different within Kakashi that could be noticed. He hadn't solidly slept in the past few days as he tried to uncover any memories he could through meditation, resulting in dark rings around his eyes and a tired demeanor. Bearing the burden of having to do something important but being unable to discover what to do weighed on his mind and led his posture that was normally decent to be downtrodden. _The sooner I do what I need to, the sooner it will all go away._

Once he had reached his destination, the memorial stone, he sat down next to his friend's names and closed his eyes. Rather than taking the path of extreme concentration, he cleared his entire mind of anything, welcoming any thoughts that may be passing by with the hope that they would give some sort of answers.

_"You think this will help?" 19-year-old Mikazuki asked as she sat next to Sakumo in this same spot. _

_ "Yes. If you have a clear mind, you should be able to have clearer visions, I think," Sakumo said quietly as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Now close your eyes and clear your head."_

_ "Easier said then done," she whispered back as she obeyed his instruction. For a minute or so they sat in silence, Sakumo completely at peace while Mikazuki squirmed with restlessness. "This isn't working Sakumo."_

_ "You haven't given it any time to work," he answered quietly. Mikazuki took another breath and tried again for another minute, only to peek her eyes open and stare at Sakumo. A flash of envy shot through her at the peace that he seemed to have while her mind was still a stormy ocean of memories and thoughts. Sensing that she'd given up, Sakumo opened his eyes and looked at her. _

_ "I think I'll stick to my violin," she said as she stood up and dusted off her red dress. _

_ That memory faded and pulled to another memory of the caravan. Mikazuki was now older, in her late twenties it seemed, and was dressed in a sort of traditional dress as she stood near the fire. Her plain baggy dresses were traded for an ornate blue robe with a blue tool scarf. _

_ "No one noticed when she died, ocean gypsy shackled to the tide. The ebbing waves were turning, spreading wide. Something gone within her eyes. Her fingers lifeless stroke the sand. Her battered soul was lost-"she sang, only to be interrupted by a cry._

_ "Sister! You mustn't sing of such things," Ayame cried as she took a seat near the fire. "Are you trying to curse yourself?"_

_ "I only sang what my head told me to Sister," she said as she wrapped the scarf around her arms. "Maybe it is prophecy."_

_ Rather than fading, the memory violently jerked away and pulled to a stormy night: that stormy night. Mikazuki sat in her son's bed, rocking the small, emotionally exhausted boy as he faded into sleep finally. As soon as she was sure of this, she laid him in bed and walked out of the room. Hesitantly, she pushed her bedroom door open to see her dead husband once more. No longer did she have to be strong for her son and hold any composure. Now she could finally fall to her knees and weep for everything they never had. They were supposed to have so much more time together, not to be parted so early in life. _

_ "Sakumo," she whispered as she buried her face into this shoulder. "You said you would never leave us. You promised. That's right. You promised. So this can't be happening."_

_ Feeling numb, as if this were just another incorrect vision that she was having, Mikazuki walked out of the room, out of her home and into the rain. _

_ "I am not feeling the rain," she told herself as she slowly became soaked. "This is a memory. This is a failed memory that will not happen. I will come back into reality any moment now and see Sakumo. He'll laugh at how ridiculous of a memory it was, like he always did when I told him of the different deaths I had seen for him. Why had I not seen this one? Was I so oblivious that I couldn't tell that he was in danger? No, I will lay here, right here, and go to sleep. I will come back into reality and everything will be okay."_

_ She stopped dead in her tracks several yards from her home and lay in the wet mud, waiting for the rain to stop and the nightmare to be over. When she woke, the rain had stopped, but it wasn't Sakumo who woke her. It was Minato._

_ "Mika?" he asked as the absolutely filthy woman came back into consciousness. _

_ "Minato," she said with a smile, until she noticed his clothes. "Why are you in your ANBU clothes?"_

_ "I was assigned to… well, take care of Sakumo," he said, instantly looking down at his hands. "I am sorry Mikazuki."_

_ When he looked back up, he was expecting to see a sad look or something of the sort, but all he saw was confusion. Did she not know yet?_

_ "He's dead then? That wasn't a dream?" she asked no one as she stood up off the ground. Minato put a hand out to try to comfort her but stopped when he saw her tremble. "WHAT KIND OF GIFT IS THIS?!" she screamed at the top of her lungs as she charged at the closest tree and punched it with all of her might, resulting in a painful sounding crack echoing through her fists. "YOU SHOW ME HIM DYING IN EVERY WAY BUT THE ONE THAT HE DIES FROM! I COULD HAVE SAVED HIM! I COULD HAVE SAVED HIM!"_

_ She continued to slam her fists into the tree, not feeling them break under the force. It didn't matter. None of it mattered. _

_ "Why?" she just asked herself as she leaned her head against the barely damaged tree, her thoughts no longer being jumbled by other's thoughts, but only her own thought. That simple word. Why? Why did he do this? Why didn't he tell her? Why hadn't she noticed something was wrong?_

_ "You've really damaged your hands," one of the medical nin said as they wrapped Mikazuki's hands. "They'll heal, but will never be the same. You completely destroyed the nerves within them and almost pulverized the bone. The fact that they will be somewhat functional is a miracle."_

_ "Will she still be able to play the violin?" Minato asked as he stood by the numb woman. _

_ "Honestly, no. We will be happy if she's able to even grip things with her hands anymore," he answered with some sympathy. Mikazuki was unfazed._

_ A week passed at the speed of a year as Mikazuki turned more into a ghost, no matter how much she tried to wear a face for Kakashi, and Kakashi began taking more missions. With her injured hands and broken spirit, she no longer tried to instruct him in the violin or in her language, and after a few days, he stopped asking. _

_ The memories, her "gift" had completely vanished. She no longer had the constant sounds of other thoughts, dreams, futures, or pasts buzzing in her head. It was pure silence. The normally loud and lively girl would've found that discomforting, but it was now embraced with open arms. She didn't want to think about other's futures, especially not her own._

_ "Goodbye Mother," Kakashi said as he left for his mission._

_ "Goodbye Kakashi," she said back, no longer surprising him by not calling him Pup. As soon as he was gone, the inward battle began. Should she go into the room? The room she had locked herself away from since that night. She had to. It was becoming less and less acceptable for her to be wearing the same dress every day. _

_ With labored steps, she walked down the hall until she reached the door. She touched the handle and instantly flinched away as if it were hot. He had made this room, this entire house, intended for them. With his own hands. No, she couldn't do this._

_ "I have to," she reminded herself as she grabbed the hot handle and threw the door open. Minato had done a good job with covering up the blood stain in the middle of the room. The smell of bleach lingered from him cleaning while a new rug lay where her husband had taken his last breaths. As if a dam within her head had broken, a sickening amount of memories flooded into her, from their first night together in this room to all of the times they had argued, loved, been alone, been with Kakashi in this room. Rather than forcing her to freeze in place, it drove her to hysterics. _

_ "How could you do this?!" she screamed as she ran into the room, grabbing the closest object even though it caused her pain and flinging it across the room. The picture frame smashed against the strong wall, shattering the glass within the frame and sending the photo floating through the air and falling onto the bed. With no objects nearby that she could pick up, her hands went to the side of her head and pressed as if they were trying to crush it. "How could you leave us?! You promised that you were better than your father. You were alive, unlike him. You thought that was all that mattered, and maybe you were right! Maybe it was. Because this is nothing like you being away on missions. At least I knew you were coming back. But you're gone now… You're gone…"_

_ She fell to her knees, landing on the new soft rug as the last memory of her and Sakumo walking together through Konoha squeezed its way into her head. The smile on her face when he took her hand to keep her balanced while she walked across the railing of a bridge felt more like it was taunting her now. Had he been planning this even then? _

_ "I can see the damned future and I didn't see this coming," she whispered as she reached under the bed and slid out her violin case. "Mother was right…. I was so wrong… I never should have…"_

_ Before she could finish the sentences, she tried her best to pull her violin from its case without injuring herself further. No longer able to play it, she cradled it in her arms, running her fingers down the carved spirals on the back of its neck that Sakumo had done for her. _

_ "I hate the leaf village," she whispered as she rested her head against the violin. "I hate it…. I hate it… I HATE IT!"_

Kakashi could feel himself getting closer to the truth. As the memories continued, they seemed fresher and more willing to come forward now that he wasn't forcing them and as much as he wanted to continue, there was only so much he could take in one sitting, especially concerning the death of his father. With a tired sigh, he laid back in the grass near the memorial stone and up at the drifting white clouds. Somehow, he was able to find peace. It was as though such pressure had been put under these memories that now that they had been released, there was no longer the same amount of urgency for his mind to learn. He could relax and not feel as though he was wasting time.

"Thank you for treating us to lunch Anko Sensei," Sakura said politely as they followed their temporary sensei to the training fields for bento lunches.

"Yeah, you aren't as scary as I thought," Naruto said with a smile, only to be punched by Sakura.

"Naruto!" she yelled as he went flying a foot. Sasuke smiled, but really it wasn't noticed until he began flat-out laughing. Sakura, Naruto, and Anko froze and stared at the normally glum genin as he went into a full-out fit of laughter. He had one of those honest laughs that were absolutely contagious, and soon the entire team was laughing uncontrollably, even Naruto.

From his place at the memorial stone, even Kakashi could hear the laughter and couldn't help but smile at the progress being made. That is, until a memory managed to make its way into his head.

_"I will destroy the hidden leaf village," Sasuke said viciously, his eyes filled with malice. _


	9. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: Sorry for the delay. I was angry about recent events in Naruto manga, and it made me want to stop writing this. So, for anyone who reads the manga as it's updated via the internet, disregard that for this story please and thank you. As always, thank you all very much for your support. I appreciate it more than I can describe. Enjoy.**

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Chapter 8

Out of all of the memories and voices he had heard within his time with his new abilities, Kakashi hadn't been truly terrified by any of them until he heard Sasuke say that. Judging by the voice, Sasuke had to be older, at least a few years, but the fact that the possibility of Sasuke saying that existed was enough to keep Kakashi on edge.

It didn't help that ever since he'd heard that small piece of the future, his powers had all but vanished. He had spent all day meditating, focusing, and doing anything he could to stimulate the memories, only to no avail. His biggest fear was that he was too late, that he had run out of time and now the memories were gone. He was down to his final plan, to visit the Uchiha community that now only occupied Sasuke. He waited until the sun was close to setting before heading out of his apartment and towards the compound, the entire time clearing his mind of anything that could possibly block memories.

It had felt like it had been over an hour since Kakashi had left his apartment when he began to notice the unchanging scenery. Even though he walked, his surroundings stayed exactly the same and he never came closer to the Uchiha Compound.

"Release," he whispered as he pressed his hands together, only to quickly discover that this wasn't genjutsu. Standing several feet from him was his mother, wearing an oddly familiar white night dress and a black hooded cape. "Mother? What's going on? Where am I? This isn't Konoha."

"You're right, it isn't," she said as she looked from the ground to meet her son's eyes. "We're inside your mind Pup."

"In my mind?" he asked as he walked towards her. It was a relief that he was able to do that much.

"Yes," she confirmed. "This is the part of your mind where we can meet, like we did not long ago."

"I remember," Kakashi answered as he thought about passing out at the inn. "Does that mean I'm sleeping? I need to wake up and find out what's going on with the memories and why I can't-"

"I will not let you go further," Mikazuki interrupted. "I was wrong. I cannot… I cannot in good conscious let you continue to receive memories."

"What? What do you mean?" Kakashi asked with confusion. "Mother, I haven't figured out what you've been trying to tell me, and what I have to do."

"What makes you think you ever had to do anything?" she asked forcefully, tears filling her eyes. "You are so much like your father, always looking to see what you have to do rather than thinking through what you've been told."

"Are you…. Are you saying that there isn't any reason for this?" Kakashi asked, switching from desperation to anger. "Are you saying that you wiped away 7 years of my life just because you felt like it?"

"Kakashi," she said gently as she lowered her voice. "You still don't understand."

"What is there to understand?" he asked with more anger then he meant. Rather than answering him, she turned around and walked down the road, gesturing with her hand for him to follow her. With some hesitation, he followed her through Konoha until it faded into something else. It was an opening in the forest with a large fire and stumps sitting around it.

"Sit," she said as she sat down on one of the stumps. Kakashi obeyed, only because he was hoping to finally find answers. "What answers do you seek?"

"Who killed you? And why? And why did you wipe my memory? And what will happen with Sasuke, for starters," he said quickly as his mother closed her eyes.

"Always asking the questions I cannot answer," she said with a slight smile.

"Why not?" he asked, becoming more and more frustrated by the moment.

"You have a duty to your students, to treat each of them equal and to not favor or disfavor any of them," she said as she watched the fire. "If I answered your questions, I'm afraid you will disfavor one and cause him and his family more damage than has already been caused."

"His family… You mean Sasuke," he put together as he watched the fire. He felt his mother squirm uncomfortably.

"It could be Naruto. I was friends with his parents-"

"But it isn't. It's Sasuke. Otherwise, you'd be able to tell me what will happen with Sasuke," Kakashi interrupted. "Mother, I can promise you that whatever you show me won't make me disfavor him in anyway."

She considered his request for a moment as she stared into the large flames, weighing the pros and cons in her head while Kakashi waited patiently.

"Okay," she said after a moment. "But in order for you to understand, I have to show you some things."

With that, they were standing inside the Hokage's crowded office. Rather than this memory being like what Kakashi was use to, simply something he watched like a movie or a dream, he was now standing inside this memory with his mother. Kakashi's eyes darted through the crowds of people until he found his parents, much younger than he'd ever seen them in life, standing with Minato, who was probably as old as Naruto is now, and Jiraiya.

"Everyone quiet down please," The Third Hokage said gently, sending a quiet over all of the bickering shinobi. "Now will someone please explain in a calm manner what this is all about?"

"I'll explain," Jiraiya offered as he stepped through the crowd. "A sparing match turned for the worst and now we have a few genin dead."

"What? Was there no one supervising it?" The Hokage asked with shock.

"It was without their Sensei knowledge or supervision," Jiraiya explained. "Isao Uchiha allegedly killed his teammates, Katsu and Hana." With that accusation, the room exploded with more debate. Uchihas were yelling profanities at Jiraiya while the families of the dead genin were yelling at the Uchihas.

"Silence! Who is their Sensei?" he asked, making Sakumo step up.

"I am," he said. "We had no missions as a unit today, so I was unaware of this until this afternoon when I found them in the training grounds."

"I see," the Hokage said as he stared at his hands. "I want everyone who is not an Uchiha or involved with this to leave immediately so we can discuss this in a private manner."

"Come on Mika, we can go out for ramen or something," Minato said with a friendly smile as he and Jiraiya forced a hesitant Mikazuki to follow them and leave Sakumo there.

"So this is Father's memory then?" Kakashi asked himself, to which the mother standing next to him nodded. Now with Sakumo, Hana's parents, Katsu's parents and most of the Uchiha clan only in the room, they could begin a discussion.

"I didn't know that people were guilty until proven innocent here," an Uchiha said venomously to another. The non-Uchiha's pretended they didn't hear that.

"Sakumo, I know you weren't with your team very long, but for the time you had with them, would you say that Isao showed signs of being particularly aggressive towards his teammates?" the Hokage asked uneasily. He couldn't help but be worried about this situation. Even Orochimaru had never tried to kill his teammates as a genin.

"No," Sakumo said instantly. "He wasn't aggressive in the slightest. If anything, he was indifferent to Hana and Katsu. As I said before, I don't know the situation. Isao wouldn't talk to me."

"So you've seen him?"

"Yes, I found him in the training grounds, a few hundred feet from Katsu and Hana. He was covered in blood," Sakumo told, making the image of a small Uchiha boy standing in the training fields like a statue, his clothes drenched in blood, flash through Kakashi and Mikazuki's minds. "I tried talking to him, but he wouldn't say anything."

"He could've been in shock," Isao's father said as he pushed through the crowd. "He could've seen his teammates be slaughtered and then was in shock."

"I couldn't find any other evidence of anyone being there," Sakumo said calmly. "I had Guruko sniff around for any scents of other shinobi. His was the only one there."

"Where is Isao now?" The Hokage asked before Isao's father could interject again.

"I left him with intelligence, so that he could be interrogated with your consent," he answered. The third sighed, still slightly disturbed by this entire situation.

"He's still a minor. You can't have him interrogated without his parents being informed," his father said angrily.

"Pay attention," Sakumo said bitterly. "I said I left him with intelligence. He isn't being interrogated without the Hokage's permission. We have protocol here."

"Obviously not, if my son is being accused under such flimsy evidence," he mumbled, sending Sakumo over the edge.

"Pardon me if I'm stepping out of line," Sakumo started. "But there are two kids dead here. I don't care if they're technically shinobi or not, there are two ten year old kids who were brutally murdered and hacked to pieces, and your son is the only person who was nearby. Is he also a kid? Yes, he is. Do I think he could have killed them without blinking an eye? Yes, I think he could have. The bottom line is, we don't know what happened. Either we have a genin who is extremely emotionally disturbed and needs to be handled before he becomes a threat to more villagers, or we have someone who killed two genin running about the village that needs to be caught. Either way, we won't know until we talk to your son, the only witness here."

A knife could've cut through the pure silence in the room. No one breathed. No one fidgeted. Being that Sakumo was a quiet, calm person, for him to lose his temper in such a way added even more severity to an already serious situation.

"I'll order Isao's interrogation tonight," the third said, breaking the silence. "I can assure any Uchiha members who are concerned that it will be conducted without brutality, unless the interviewer is provoked. We will meet again as soon as possible to discuss the situation further."

With that, all of the Uchihas left, Katsu and Hana's families following slowly behind and Sakumo bringing up the back.

"I am so sorry," Sakumo said to Katsu and Hana's heartbroken parents. "I feel very much responsible for what happened to your children, and I will do everything in my power to bring their murderer to justice. I promise you both."

"Thank you," Hana's father answered.

"You should've been there," Hana's mother said bitterly. "I don't accept your apology and I don't accept your condolences. You're their teacher. You should've protected them."

Sakumo didn't say anything in his defense. He knew that explaining to her that he had been on a mission that day and didn't even return to the village until the afternoon would just make her more upset.

"Sakumo, could you stay for another minute?" the Hokage asked. With a tired sigh, the shinobi turned around and faced the third, expecting another scolding for not being responsible for his students. "Do you think Katsu and Hana's bodies are in a condition to be autopsied?"

"No," he said quietly. "They were so mutilated, I didn't even recognize them. I only knew it was them because of the scraps of clothes that were near them. Hokage, do you want me to conduct the interrogation, since I am his sensei and maybe I'll be able to get him to tell us something?"

"Go home Sakumo," the Hokage said with not a drop of anger in his voice. "Let other shinobi handle this further and go home. Even you can only take so much of this."

"I… I need to find out who did this," Sakumo said quickly. "They were my students and I failed them. If Isao was dangerous, I should've realized it. He'd always been reserved but I thought that was because he was so much younger than the other two and so he didn't relate with them. I didn't think that he would… but he could. I know he could."

Sakumo ran his hand through his hair, wrapping it around the back of his neck as he stared at his shoes, thinking about his poor mutilated students, who only yesterday were alive and well. They'd gone on a mission the day before, to build a fence for Inuzuka clan. Katsu had tried to build the whole thing on his own, in an attempt to woo Hana, but she was always daydreaming about something and not paying much attention to anything, so even when the enthusiastic boy would do something, she wouldn't see it.

_"Hana, look!" the red headed boy called as he finished sticking all of the posts into the holes he dug himself. Meanwhile, Hana was leaned over, staring at a butterfly in a flower bush nearby. "Haaanaaaa!"_

_ "Hmmm? Oh, Katsu, did you want something?"_

"Sakumo?" The Hokage asked, his hand on the White Fang's shoulder. He was pulled from his thoughts to look at his boss.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't hear you. What did you say?" he asked, staring eye to eye with the kind old man.

"Go home," he said kindly; trying his hardest to smile even though there was such darkness in the room. "That's not a suggestion, but an order."

"Yes," he said with a nod as the vision faded.

"I didn't know Father ever had a team," Kakashi said as they stood in the white space before the next memory began.

"That was the only team he ever had," Mikazuki said quietly. "After this happened, he refused to be a sensei again. No one blamed him though."

Before they could say anything else, the new memory began inside the Hokage's office once more, a few weeks later. Inside stood only Isao's parents, Sakumo, Isao, and Isao's brother.

The seven year old Isao stared blankly at the wall, his black eyes showing nothing but coldness. He stood ramrod straight, taking so light of breaths that it looked as though he wasn't even breathing.

"I did it," the small voice chimed from the boy. "I killed Katsu and Hana."

"You realize the severity of what you're saying, Isao?" The Hokage asked the boy. Isao didn't even look at the Hokage.

"Yes," he answered. "I killed them both. I was practicing in the training field and I saw them together, smiling and laughing. I couldn't stand it. I was trying to focus, to train. So I told them to go away…"

_"I'm trying to train," Isao said as he froze in the middle of a kata. _

_ "Sorry Isao," Hana said with an airy smile as she played with her curly purple hair that was in a side pony tail. "We wanted to see if you wanted to come with us. We were going to go to my house to play a game. Mother is going to make us lunches and everything!"_

_ "No, I have to train," Isao answered._

"They acted like such children," Isao said to the wall. "Wanting to play games while we are shinobi, lethal tools that were in need of sharpening and refining. Their persistence was annoying."

_"Come on Isao! You're always training," Katsu said with crossed arms. "Have fun for once."_

_ "I can't. I'm busy," Isao said with more frustration. _

_ "Please Isao," Hana begged. "My mother wants to meet our whole team. I even invited Sakumo Sensei for lunch, but Mrs. Mikazuki said that he's on a mission today. Will you please just come for lunch?"_

_ "I said no!" he yelled, making Hana jump away from him._

_ "Hey, you don't have to be mean to Hana," Katsu said angrily, taking a step towards Isao. "She's just trying to be nice and you're being a jerk about it."_

_ "I want to train. Leave me alone," Isao muttered angrily, making them back off._

"I hated them. They were so dumb," Isao grumbled, his voice rising with anger.

_"Isao, you're still here?" Hana asked as she carried a bento. "We brought you lunch, since you didn't come."_

_ Isao stopped what he was doing and stared at them, hatred pulsing through his stone cold eyes. With shaky hands, Hana put the bento down nearby him, feeling his eyes follow her every move._

_ "You disgust me," he spat._

_ "Hey, what's your problem?" Katsu yelled as he ran over to him. _

"Katsu attacked me first," Isao said. "So I killed him."

_"Katsu!" Hana screeched as she fell to her knees next to her dead teammate. "Look what you did! You've killed Katsu!" Hana began weeping as she grabbed her teammate. _

_ "Shut up," Isao growled._

"She wouldn't shut up," Isao said angrily. "So I killed her too."

The entire room was silent as they stared at this little boy who seemed as though he was incapable of feeling anything.

"What have they done to you Isao?" his father asked. "To make you say such horrible things?"

Sakumo clenched his jaw to prevent himself from saying anything. Of course it wasn't Isao's doing. Someone made him say this. The boy didn't answer his father, just stared straight at the wall. Sakumo knelt next to his student.

"Isao, you understand that the punishment for killing your comrades is death, right?" Sakumo asked, only to receive no answer. He grabbed the boy's shoulders and turned him to that he was forced to look at him. "Isao, answer me. Do you realize that you've killed Katsu and Hana? That you chopped them into pieces? Do you understand that?"

"They weren't my comrades," Isao said coldly. "The word comrade implies that they would be my peers. They were useless, untalented shinobi."

"And so it was okay to kill them?" Sakumo asked with equal ice. The boy just stared at his sensei before answering.

"Yes."

Everyone in the room cringed, even Kakashi and Mikazuki, at the boy's cold words. Sakumo stood back up and faced the Hokage, knowing full well what was going to happen next.

"Isao Uchiha, I have to sentence you to death," the Hokage said with more sadness than he's ever said those words before. The memory faded into nothingness, leaving Kakashi and Mikazuki back at the bonfire, both slightly shell-shocked.

"That's all you're seeing for today," Mikazuki insisted after blinking a few times to remind herself that it was a distant memory.

"Yeah, I know," Kakashi answered quietly, utterly disturbed by that boy. He knew where this was going now, why it was so important for him to see all of this, even if his mother didn't think so. "That boy…. He didn't do those things in a sane mind. He was being manipulated."

"Manipulated? But by who?" Mikazuki asked. Before Kakashi could tell her his theory, his words stopped working and everything began to fade. He was heading back to reality.

But where was reality? Well, he knew he wasn't at home because he wasn't in his bed, but he was in a bed. After a few blinks, he was able to clear the fog from his mind completely and realize he was in the hospital.

"Sensei!" his team cried with relief as he sat up. Sakura tackled him with a hug, much to his surprise, and his other two students stood nearby smiling. Sasuke was smiling, and it wasn't that smug smile either. That was a good sign.

"Yo," Kakashi said with a slight wave. Minus having a dry mouth and a slightly sore back, he felt absolutely fine. So why was he in the hospital?

"That's all you have to say!" Sakura asked angrily as he stared at them, still trying to figure out where the lines of reality and dream state crossed, and when they did, what exactly happened.

"No. Why am I here?" he asked, only to receive looks from his students.

"Guy Sensei found you in town," Sasuke said. "Apparently you were talking to yourself about something and then you passed out cold."

"Ah, okay," Kakashi said, happy that it was Guy who found him and not a random stranger like last time.

"I'll go tell Lady Tsunade that you're awake," Sakura insisted as she hurried out of the room.

"You know Sensei, for someone who's always telling me to take care of myself, you seem to be in bad shape," Naruto said with a laugh, only to receive a look from Sasuke. "What?! It's true!"

"I'm not in bad shape. I'm fine," Kakashi reinforced as his eyes drifted over to Sasuke's neck, where the curse mark was concealed. "I'm more concerned about you all. How have missions with Anko been going? You aren't giving her trouble, are you?"

"You're in the hospital and you're worried about our missions?" Sasuke asked with a tint of anger.

"I hate repeating myself. I'm fine. Now tell me what you have been up to for the past few days," Kakashi said with a little more force.

"Everything's been fine. We've been on dumb D ranked missions in the village. You need to get better Sensei, so we can go on some fun missions!" Naruto complained, but Kakashi wasn't really listening.

"Sasuke, how have you been? Has the curse mark been bothering you?" he flat out asked. Sasuke was taken aback by the forwardness, but replied anyways.

"No, it's been fine," he answered. Before Kakashi could say anything else, Tsunade came in, trailing behind Sakura.

"Visiting time is over," she said forcefully as she shooed the three genin out.

"Before you leave, I want to talk to you Sasuke, as soon as I'm able. Don't let me forget, alright?" Kakashi called to the rushed genin. He could've swore he heard a call back of recognition, which meant that Sasuke wasn't still mad at him for what he'd said a few days back, but he couldn't hear it over Tsunade's talking.

"I've been respectful of your privacy for a while Kakashi, not questioning your time off or your different demeanor, but this has gone too far. Your students told me that you had seemed sick when you were on the mission at the Capital. Did you pass out there as well?" Tsunade asked, her voice more irritated than angry.

"Yeah, but it isn't a big deal," Kakashi insisted.

"A shinobi of your caliber passing out randomly is a big deal," she said with equal persistence as she stared down at his chart. "But everything seems to be normal. I'd like you to stay until tomorrow morning, so we can keep an eye on you."

"I guess if you order it, I can't decline, but since I'll be stuck here, could I ask you something?" Kakashi asked, making Tsunade look up from her chart. "Are there any documents about the experiments Orochimaru had been conducting?"

"Why would you want something like that?" she asked with much distaste.

"I'm just curious about something," he answered as the image of Isao popped back in his head.

"There are documents, but they're strictly private," she answered.

"Then maybe you'll know the answer that I'm looking for," Kakashi said, the tinge of desperation in his voice stopping Tsunade from leaving just yet. "Did Orochimaru ever experiment with anyone from the Uchiha clan?"

"No," she said a little too quickly as she walked out of the room, closing the door firmly behind her.


	10. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: Remember how I said to disregard the newest manga chapters? Disregard me saying that. I still don't like it, but I'm going to work with it. Anyways, thank you always for any and all forms of support and I hope you enjoy the chapter. Not much more is left (about two more chapters after this one). Enjoy.**

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Chapter 9

_"Mother, can you hear me?" Kakashi asked as he made his way back into the space within his mind, the warm bonfire with the log benches. She emerged slowly from the bushes, sitting down next to her son._

_ "You want to see the end, don't you?" she asked, only to receive a nod from him. "Seeing all of this at once…. I don't know Pup…. We'll see how it goes."_

It haunted his dreams for the week between Isao's sentencing and his actual death. Poor Katsu and Hana, all chopped to pieces in the training field, and Isao staring into nothingness with his black vacant eyes.

"Sakumo?" Mikazuki whispered as she shook her husband from his sleep. His eyes flew open to stare at his extremely worried wife. "You were screaming…"

"I… I'm sorry," he said quietly as he sat up in bed, trying to pull himself together. Mikazuki just wished there was something she could do… but wait, there was.

"I have an idea," she said with a slight smile. "There's this song… my mother use to sing it to me and my siblings, as her mother did before her and so on… It's said to have mystical qualities, and make a person fall into a sound sleep, regardless of the storm in their head."

"I have a hard time believing that," Sakumo sighed. "It sounds too good to be true."

"We'll just have to try and see if it works," she said as she sunk back into bed, Sakumo following suit. "Hmmm, now how did that song go exactly? Ah yeah, I remember…"

"A naoidhean bhig, cluinn mo ghuth. Mise ri d' thaobh, O mhaighdean bhan," she started singing as she moved closer to her husband, resting a hand on his chest. "Ar righinn oig, fas as faic. Do thir, dileas Fein. A ghrian a's a ghealaich, stuir sinn. Gu uair ar cliu 's ar gloire. Naoidhean bhig, ar righinn go. Mhaighdean uashaill bhan_"_

As soon as her song finished, she looked to Sakumo, who did seem to be more tired, but wasn't exactly asleep yet.

"That's a pretty song," he said quietly, obviously more tired than he had been. "What does it translate to?"

"Let me see….Little baby, hear my voice. I'm beside you, O maiden fair," she started, somewhat singing it but not able to because the translated words didn't quite match up. "Our young Lady, grow and see. Your land, your own faithful land. Sun and moon, guide us. To the hour of our glory and honor. Little baby, our young Lady. Noble maiden fair."

Before Sakumo could even tell her what he thought about the song or whether it was just a myth that it had mystical abilities, he was fast asleep. In Mikazuki's eyes, his slumber proved the 'myth' to be correct. The warmth and serenity of this memory quickly ended and it jolted to another.

Sakumo paced the length of his backyard forcefully, each second of Isao's execution ringing in his mind, torturing him. He wished that Mikazuki was home, but she was working today at the Yamanaka's flower shop. He wouldn't see her until at least that afternoon.

"A day alone with my thoughts," he said aloud, cringing at the words. "I need to find some friends."

Knowing that Jiraiya was probably sleeping off a night of research and Minato was probably training, Sakumo went to talk to his other friends, the dead ones.

"Hello again," he said as he stood at the memorial stone in the training grounds. Whenever he came here, he didn't think very much about his lost teammates that he'd had through the years and never knew very well, but his mother and father who had both died on separate missions. His father had died when he was just a baby while fighting off a swarm of enemy shinobi who were trying to infiltrate the village. His teammates had gone to send for back up, leaving him extremely out numbered and with no chance for survival. To say his mother was devastated would be an understatement.

Sakumo's mother was a stern woman. From what he'd heard, his father was more of the soft one of their pair, but he didn't know for sure. Her indifference and impatience towards her son often lead him to training on his own and spending a lot of time reading books while she would go on mission after mission. Being grown now, he wondered how anyone could ever love a woman so cold, but she could have been different before he knew her.

She was captured as a hostage and eventually killed while on an espionage mission. Her team didn't go back and save her because it would endanger the mission. Even though Sakumo knew he should've been sad, he didn't cry.

This was the company he chose to keep: he absent father and his cold-hearted mother, both long gone from the earth.

"I need to make more friends," he told himself as he stared down at the memorial stone. "No offense, Mother and Father."

"Are you talking to a rock?" Jiraiya asked with a laugh as he came up behind Sakumo.

"That's what it looks like, doesn't it?" Sakumo asked with a slight laugh. "Yeah, I guess I'm just trying to get my mind off things."

"Talking to rocks isn't a way to do that," Jiraiya said as he grabbed his friend's shoulder and tugged him along to the exit of the training field. "You know what I do to get my mind off things?"

"I'm not hiring a hooker," Sakumo answered quickly, making Jiraiya laugh even harder.

"I meant the other thing I do to get my mind off things," Jiraiya said after he composed himself.

"You write about your experiences with hookers. I know, I've seen you working on it," Sakumo answered with slight caution, not sure if he liked where this was going.

"Hey, you make it sound like porn," he grumbled. "It's smut, not porn, there's a difference." Before Sakumo could interject, Jiraiya sped up his point. "Anyways, I finished the first draft a day ago and I've been looking for a good friend to read and critique it for me, and since you seem to want to get your mind off things…."

The look Sakumo gave him was a mixture of disappointed, embarrassed, and slightly interested.

"Fine," Sakumo agreed, only to be dragged away by his overly enthusiastic friend.

"Now, you have to keep an open mind Sakumo," he said for the 5th time as they walked through Konoha and towards Jiraiya's apartment. "And keep my audience in mind."

"You're not seeing this part," Mikazuki said with a slight blush as she focused her energy and fast forwarded the memory. Now it was later in the evening and Mikazuki was in her house, trying to read a recipe for dinner. She still had trouble with reading Konoha's native language, even though she could speak it, so she constantly kept a pocket translation dictionary that her father made her in her dress pockets, so she could look things up. To ease the tension of having to focus so hard to read such a simple thing, she hummed quietly to herself as she scribbled the words down in a way that she could understand. She froze as she heard a noise outside, a rustling in the trees.

Bull sat up from where he was sleeping on the kitchen floor, near Mikazuki's feet and instantly started barking. Whatever was out there, he heard it too.

"Shh, it's okay," she said as she petted the large dog, but he wasn't calmed in any sense of the word. He bolted over to the sliding doors, scratching on them until Mikazuki let him into the yard. Her sense of security disappeared with the dog as she quickly closed the door and grabbed one of the cooking knifes off the counter. "If you're in here, you had better go. My husband will be home soon and he'll kill you, if the dog doesn't first."

Silence filled the house, unsettling Mikazuki even more as she slowly crept from the kitchen into the main room and to the front window. She could see Sakumo coming towards the house with somewhat of a hurried gait. He must've heard Bull barking. She threw open the door and hurried out onto the porch.

"Please hurry up Sakumo," she yelled, making him run over to the house at almost inhuman speeds.

"What's wrong? What happened?" he asked as he came inside with her, making sure to lock the front door behind him.

"I think there's something outside," she said as she looked towards the back sliding doors. "Bull ran out after whatever it was, I think."

"I'll go see what it is. You stay put here," he said, noticing the kitchen knife in her hand. "And take this. It'll be a little more effective than that." He took the knife from her and replaced it with one of his kunai. With that, he flew out the back door to find Bull.

Mikazuki ran her thumb across the top of the sharp kunai, not sure she'd be able to use it if she had to.

"It'll be fine," she said to herself as she walked away from the back door. "Whatever it was, Sakumo and Bull are handling it. I have nothing to worry about."

Trying to calm her nerves, she pulled a random book off of the bookshelf in the main room and sat down on their small green couch to try and read. It was an encyclopedia, so she just flipped through and stared at the pictures, not wanting to take so much time to decode the text. Then she heard it. The distinct sound of a foot stepping on the wooden floor. With a thud, she dropped her text book and gripped the kunai knife tight in her hand, running over to see who it was and hoping that it was Sakumo. Before she could even take in who was standing there, her kunai knife was gone and she was held tight against the person's chest, the kunai that she was going to protect herself with now tight against her neck.

"Don't move," he growled and while Mikazuki obeyed, she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Bull, what in the world were you chasing?" Sakumo asked as he met up with the dog. Before he could try and figure it out though, a scream shot through the air, sending both Bull and Sakumo running back to the house. "It must've been a diversion."

Never in his entire life had Sakumo ran as fast as he did back to his house, Bull struggling to catch up behind him. When he made it back to the house, his stomach dropped at the sight of his wife on the back porch, a kunai knife held to her neck by someone he didn't quite recognize from where he was.

"Don't move," he said sharply, instantly giving away his identity. It was Isao's father, driven mad with rage and sorrow over the loss of his son. Sakumo knew he needed to distract him, just enough so that he could formulate a plan to get him away from Mikazuki without getting caught in any tricks that he could do with his sharingan.

"Why are you doing this?" Sakumo asked as he focused on the situation.

"Everything has to be equal," the crazed Uchiha said slowly. "You took one of the most important people in the world to me, so it's only fair that I take that from you. Poor thing here is shaking though. Must be scared out of her mind. Isao wasn't so cowardly. He accepted his unjust fate from the moment it was given to him."

From what he could see, the best way to reach Mikazuki would be to use an Earth Style jutsu and go underground, coming up from the ground in the small space between the two of them. If he moved quickly enough, he could pull the man's arm away from Mikazuki's neck and get her into a safer position. Without putting another thought into it, he quickly fired off handsigns and executed his plan. And while the Uchiha was fast, he wasn't fast enough to prevent Sakumo from getting Mikazuki away from him. However, he was fast enough to begin running off.

"You call her a coward and yet you run like a dog with its tail between its legs when I refuse to accept your twisted judgment," Sakumo said darkly as he caught up to the man and sent him flying against the ground with a swift kick. "I'm impressed Isao was even as talented as he was, seeing as you don't seem to be exactly the best that the Uchiha clan has to offer."

Isao's father didn't even get the chance to pull himself off the ground before Sakumo pulled his tanto from its sheath, charging it with bright white chakra and using the move that gave him the nickname White Fang to send him to see his son in the afterlife.

"You've killed me now too," the man whispered as he bled to death. "Now you have the guilt of killing both of us over your head."

Sakumo had no time for guilt or any reflection of his actions as he ran over to make sure Mikazuki was alright. She sat on the partially destroyed back porch, her mouth covered by her hands and her eyes glowing and white. Her entire body shook with either adrenaline or fear as Sakumo ran over to her.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he looked her over. She said absolutely nothing as her eyes stared at the bleeding corpse in their yard. "Here," he said as he picked her up bridal style and brought her in the house. From carrying her, he could see that she had a cut on her leg that was dripping blood, either caused from being pushed away and the kunai cutting her or from a stray sliver of wood slicing her, but either way it didn't look exceptionally deep, so he brought her into the bathroom and sat her on the counter as he dug through the medicine cabinet for disinfectant and bandages. She still said nothing, but her hands had drifted down to resting in her lap.

"You'll be just fine," he said as he dabbed disinfectant on a cotton swab and cleaned her leg. "It's just a small cut, nothing too severe."

"…you killed someone," she said out loud, not believing the words herself.

"I protected what's most important to me," Sakumo answered as he poured a little disinfectant on the bandage wrap and started wrapping her leg.

"But… how could you…?" she asked, finally looking down at her husband.

"Your life is more important to me than anything," he answered. "And he had every intention of killing you. Even if I had let him go, there would've been the possibility of him coming back. I could receive some negative repercussions, but the bottom line was that I was protecting what's most important to me, and the Hokage will at least respect that and understand the situation."

"That poor family," she thought out loud. "Losing two members in one day."

"The Uchihas have more than enough members," Sakumo said bitterly as he scooped Mikazuki back up. Even though it didn't seem to bother him much as he laid her in bed before going to explain to the Hokage what happened, the incident replayed in her mind more than most bad memories.

Mikazuki and Kakashi felt as though they were in a whirlwind as they flew through time to the next dream. Mikazuki didn't look at her son, only straight ahead, for she knew this was the last stop, the last memories of her own that she had, and she knew that he could either take it well or not. She didn't say a word, but took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze as they appeared in the training fields, where she stood at the age she was now, slicing away at a tree with Sakumo's tanto.

"I use to do that to vent," she told Kakashi as he watched the dream version of her cringe at the pain in her hands from gripping the tanto so tightly. "I couldn't hurt people, but trees were easy targets."

Before she could say anything else, dream Mikazuki stopped her slicing at the faint sound of a child crying. Quickly, she sheathed the blade and walked through the forest to find a small boy sitting in the mud, his goggles on his forehead so he could wipe his eyes.

"What's the matter?" she asked as she knelt near the boy so they were eye level. Obito Uchiha looked up at her with scared eyes, still sniffling.

"I'm lost," he answered. "It's stupid for me to be crying…. I'm a shinobi after all, but I can't find my way home and it's so dark…"

"I'll help you," she assured as she stood back up and offered the small boy her hand. He took it with hesitation but held her hand as they kept walking. She knew the path through the dark like the back of her hand, since she'd made many visits to this same spot almost daily since Sakumo's death. "What's your name?"

"Obito," he answered as his tears stopped falling and he gained some composure.

"Obito? Hmm, now that name sounds familiar," she said to herself as they walked. "Oh well, it'll come back to me. Where do you live Obito?"

"The Uchiha compound," he said as he slid his goggles back onto his face with his free hand.

"That isn't so far away from where I live," she said with a tired smile. "Wait, Obito Uchiha…. Oh! You're on Kakashi's team!"

"You know Kakashi?" Obito asked with a hint of distaste in his mouth. How could such a nice lady know Kakashi?  
"Of course I do. He's my son," she said with a slight laugh. Obito looked at her as if she'd grown three heads and a tail. "What?"

"I… never mind…" he shrugged it off, figuring that Kakashi was either an entirely different person around his mom or that she was use to his personality.

"If you say so," she said back as they continued their walk in silence. Neither of them minded it though, since Obito was trying to figure out how this woman could possibly be Kakashi's mother. But Mikazuki was thinking on other things, like how being with Obito made her miss being around Kakashi. He'd been home after catching a pretty bad cold from overworking, so she had seen him quite a bit this week, but it wasn't the same.

"That's when I decided that things were going to change," Mikazuki told her son as they watched the scene. "I decided that when I got home, I would tell you that when you got better you needed to take less missions and I was going to start working at the Yamanaka's flower shop again. I was going to try harder to make an effort to keep us together."

"Except you didn't make it home," Kakashi said as he watched his mother walk his best friend to his house and walk towards the exit of the Uchiha compound before freezing from that undeniable feeling of being watched.

"Right," she answered as they fell into silence and watched the scene.

Mikazuki felt it all right, the shivers of someone's eyes glaring into her back. She didn't even consider it being simply because it was night and took off running out of the compound and through the residential streets as she tried to get to her house. Before she even knew what was going on, she was tossed off of her path and into the forest like a rag doll, falling into the grass and rolling several feet before finally being able to stand.

"Pathetic thing," a voice snarled at her. "Taking up space when more useful creatures could be existing."

Mikazuki stood slightly off balance from hitting her head as she looked up at the glowing red sharingan eyes that glared at her. She withdrew the tanto again, holding it in front of her even though her arms shook violently with adrenaline and fear.

"My father had wanted to take everything from the man who killed Isao," Fugaku Uchiha said with cool anger as he slowly walked closer to Mikazuki. "But he died before I was able to fulfill my father's mission. This will be as close as I'll ever get."

Fugaku came at her with high speeds as she swung sporadically to try and wield him off, but he was far too skilled and her abilities not as refined as his. Almost effortlessly, he knocked into her stomach and threw her yards away, slamming her into a nearby tree and making her cry out in pain.

"I guess in the end it's better that Sakumo is dead. There's no one to run to your rescue this time…" Fugaku said as he grabbed a kunai from his pocket and threw it at her, his aim being her forehead. Rather than hearing the sound of metal meeting flesh, he heard the kunai _clink_ as it was sent off course by the tanto that Mikazuki used to block.

"He doesn't have to run to my rescue this time," she said breathlessly as she stood up with a stronger stance. "I may have had nothing to do with the death of your brother and I may feel sorry for you, but I will not stand idly by and let you murder me for crimes that I did not commit, nor did my husband."

Hearing her say these words sent him back at her with rage, only this time she was able to hold her own. Her intensified focus and his dulled focus made them more equally matched.

"This is where I thought I might actually win," Mikazuki told her son as memory Mikazuki focused energy into the blade and with mostly luck was able to power chakra through and slice into Fugaku's shoulder. He cried in pain as she tried to run off, only to stumble from the deep slices in her arms and legs. She had reached her limit and could not run, let alone fight. Fugaku on the other hand had worked past his pain, grabbed the woman by her arm and dragged her limp body over to the freezing river.

"Now you've seen the power of the Uchiha clan," he said as he stared into the river.

"What I witnessed was not power of the Uchiha clan," she said through teeth that gritted in pain. "All I witnessed was the evil force driven from hate and vengeance. As soon as I am dead, you will have no one to hate and your power will be gone."

Viciously, he reached down and grabbed her face, looking deep into her eyes with his cool rage. She didn't see that for long though, only small snippets of Sasuke and Itachi. She saw what life would've been like if the Uchiha clan hadn't been slain. Through this simple contact, she saw Sasuke become childhood friends with a small blonde boy who reminded her of Minato, join a team run by her son, and marry a pretty girl with pink hair. She saw it all, and in that moment in time, she couldn't hate him or Konoha, even though she had thought she did. All she felt was peace.

"I don't hate you," she said as he picked her up by her neck and held her over his head. Just before he dropped her, she whispered almost inaudibly, "you're sons... They will change the world... For better or for worse..."

The river water was painfully cold as each water molecule pierced her skin and open wounds as it pulled her down the river and to an unknown location to her. So this was the end of her path? Her last stroke on the painting of life?

"Kakashi will be so lonely," she whispered as she stared at the sky. "Sakumo, why did we leave him all alone?"

She drifted into unconsciousness at the memories of her, her husband, and her son before everything went wrong.

_"Are you sure he's a boy?" Sakumo asked as he sat with his wife in her bed in the hospital as she held newly born Kakashi. "He's too pretty to be a boy."_

_ "He's gorgeous, but a boy all the same," she said weakly as she stared at him. "He's going to drive the girls insane, I just know it." She looked away from her son for a minute to look at her husband. "Do you want to hold him?"_

_ "Me?" he asked with surprise as he held his hands up in surrender. "I... I'll probably break him."_

_ "You won't break him," Mikazuki said with a smile as she carefully handed her son over to his father. "Be careful to support his head and to hold him tight to you or he'll become afraid."_

_ Sakumo was extremely careful, becoming alarmed at Kakashi's slightest movements. He kept looking to Mikazuki to make sure he was doing it right, only to receive reassuring smiles. Once he was comfortable, he actually looked down at his son._

_ "You're right, he's definitely a boy," Sakumo said with a nod as he stared with pride at his son. "He has that awful white hair that runs in all of the men in my family."_

_ "It isn't awful," Mikazuki insisted as she scooted closer and leaned her head on Sakumo's arm. "It's peculiar, but not awful."_

_ "Do you have a name in mind?" he asked as he moved the subject. _

_ "I thought Meko, like the moon," she said as she petted her still son's head. Sakumo sighed slightly. "A lot of people have been named that in your family, haven't they?"_

_ "You have no idea," he said as he slightly rolled his eyes. "I was thinking of the word scarecrow… because he's so still like a scarecrow."_

_ "What's that word?" _

_ "Kakashi," Sakumo said slowly, liking how the name sounded. "Kakashi Hatake. It's fitting."_

_ "Very fitting," Mikazuki agreed._

_ "Pup! It's time to come inside!" Mikazuki called out to her three year old son who was romping in the backyard with the dogs. "Your father's home!"  
At the mention of Sakumo, Kakashi pushed away from the hounds and ran into the house, kicking his sandals off and running down the hallway to his parents' room. Standing in the open doorway was his father, a man who he didn't see much but he still adored. _

_ "Father!" he yelled excitedly, making the tired shinobi turn around with some enthusiasm and catch his son as he threw himself at his father. _

_ "Hey there Kakashi," he said with a smile as he held him in his arms so they were face to face. "How have you been? Not giving your mother too much trouble, are you?"_

_ "I never give her trouble," Kakashi insisted as his father carried him into the kitchen where his mother was making dinner. She always made the best meals when his father came home from long missions. _

_ "I find that hard to believe," Sakumo said with a smile as he ruffled his son's hair._

_ "Will you tell me about your mission?" Kakashi asked as he moved past the subject of his behavior, afraid that his mother might mention his accidental destruction of Mrs. Yamanaka's petunias. _

_ "Not right now," Sakumo said as he felt his wife giving him a look._

_ "Plleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaa ssssssssssssseee Father! Just a little bit. How many shinobi did you fight this time? Where were they from? Did you protect an important Daimyo or rescue a princess? Did Jiraiya Sensei go with you?" Kakashi asked excitedly as his father set him on the ground. He could feel the look still beating on the back of his neck, so he knelt next to his son and signaled him to be quiet._

_ "No princess or Daimyos, but Jiraiya and I did fight some hidden mist shinobi after finding some important documents hidden deep within the enemy lines," Sakumo whispered to his son as he watched Kakashi's eyes grow big with amazement. "But, that's all confidential and you can't tell anyone. Promise?"_

_ "I promise!" Kakashi said loudly with excitement, only to be shushed by his father again. "I promise," he said quietly, glowing under the approving look from his father. _

_ "Good. Now go get ready for dinner," he said as he stood up and walked back to the bedroom to change like he had been before Kakashi ran to him. As soon as he closed the door, Kakashi walked into the main room area and over to where their shoes all lined up. There were his small blue shinobi sandals that he got this year when he started at the academy. Next to them were his mother's bright red flats that were decorated with purple and gold beads that made butterfly and flower designs. Those shoes didn't fascinate him though. It was his father's huge black shinobi sandals that always drew his attention. They weren't clean like his were or pretty like his mother's, but they were functional and well used. They had seen more of the world than Kakashi had in his few years of life, and maybe that was what fascinated him. Either way, every time his father came home, he couldn't help but stand in them, even though they were almost as big as his entire leg, and just imagine the missions his father had been on in them._

_ "What are you doing over there Pup?" Mikazuki called as she wiped her hands on her apron and came over to her son. _

_ "Father has big shoes," Kakashi said with some embarrassment about being caught in his father's shoes. _

_ "One day you will too."_

_ She could see it now, her son standing in black funeral clothes at his mother's grave. Behind him, Jiraiya and Minato, trying their best to comfort the orphan, but to no avail. He didn't cry. He didn't scream in anger. He just stared blankly at the fresh grave where his mother would lay for an eternity._

_ "There's no proof that Fugaku did it," Minato said through his teeth as a new memory of him sitting with Jiraiya emerged. "He's not going to be held accountable at all."_

_ "He's an Uchiha," Jiraiya said sharply. "I wasn't expecting him to be held accountable."_

_ Kakashi was now much older and badly wounded from war. Being left with only one eye, he was resigned to the life of a sensei rather than joining the ANBU black ops like previously planned. He had turned down Obito's gift, not wanting to have any piece of someone who was an "accomplice" to his mother's murder._

_ "I refuse to have a student who's an Uchiha," Kakashi said with disgust as he stared down at one of this student's names: Itachi Uchiha. The Hokage didn't say anything, only accepted his wishes and assigned him a new team._

_ "We've discovered that the Uchiha clan is plotting against the Hidden Leaf," the third explained. "We need to create a team to stop them."_

_ "I'll more than happily head it," Kakashi said quickly._

_ "I will destroy the Hidden Leaf Village," the same raven haired boy she had seen marrying the pink haired girl said viciously in her dreams._

"Mikazuki!" Minato called through her foggy memories as he ran over to her broken body. She didn't know how long she'd been floating down the river, but it had been long enough for organisms to start invading her open wounds and to leave her weaker and more battered than before.

"Minato, my good friend," she said weakly as he lifted her soaked body out of the freezing water. "I am glad I will see you one last time, to will to you what I know now."

"What are you talking about Mikazuki?" Minato asked as he examined his friend. "We need to get you to the hospital now. Who did this to you?"

"Minato, I'm going to die," she said sharply. "As it stands, I don't have much time. Just please let me tell you what I must and follow my last wishes."

He pushed aside his feelings of sorrow and of guilt for not protecting one of his friends so that he could clearly hear every word she would say. It was likely that he was going to be the last person to ever see her.

"I have to do something extremely… questionable," she started. "I cannot explain the entire domino affect of how this will play out, but-"

_"You killed them. You killed all of them," Sasuke said angrily as he stared at the ground. "I will avenge my family."_

"Miki?" Minato asked as he pulled her back into reality. She stared at him frantically as visions of Sasuke becoming an unstoppable force, destroying this village, her son, his team, and everyone she's ever cared for washed over her brain, assaulting any sense of doubt she had over her decision. She had to do it.

"I have to erase my existence," she said quickly, much to Minato's shock. "I have a spell… my mother taught it to me a long time ago, back before the shinobi attacked us. It's a spell that can white a person out of memories, that reconstructs new ones for them so they can continue with their existences untouched… No one's ever used it before, and I don't know how it will work exactly, but I have to…"

"Wait, slow down Miki, I don't understand where you're going with all of this," Minato said, only to be waved off by her.

"There's no time… I know I can manipulate it, or at least it's been said that I can, so that some people will keep the memories…. You and Jiraiya. Yes, that will be good. Okay, Minato, listen carefully. I need you to burn my remains and get rid of them when I die. Erase me. Then, you need to go to my house, go into my bedroom, and burn anything with me in it…"

She could already see the future changing, her son becoming gentler and even a sort of friends with the boy she had walked home. She also saw much death and destruction from a violent attack, but through the sorrow, a bright light.

"You have to take care of Kakashi for me," she continued as she looked up at his sorrow filled eyes. "Treat him like he was your own son because one day he will be like a father to your son."

Minato couldn't find words to say to that. _His son?_ He didn't dare ask who he would marry or what his son would be like, knowing that she was already weak.

"Do you want to see Kakashi one more time?" Minato asked. "Since he will forget you anyway."

"Yes," she said without any hint of hesitation. "Yes, but please hurry."

Minato wasn't called Konoha's Yellow Flash for nothing. But even with his speed, Mikazuki was fading quickly. All he could do was pray that he made it in time.


	11. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: This will pick up right where the dream had left off. As always, thank you for the support and enjoy :)**

***= quote from the manga**

****= conversation until after this quote taken from the manga.**

* * *

"Are you sure you want to see him?" Minato asked again as they stood in the house. She was so far gone that he wasn't even sure she would answer. He took her slight nod as a yes.

"M-mistress..?" Pakuun asked with alarm as he stared up at Mikazuki. "W-what happened?"

"I… you can never… speak of this to Kakashi, understand?" she said weakly, knowing that Minato could explain further. The horrified pup bolted for the door, running as far away from the scene as he could to escape whatever was going on. "He'll be back," she whispered. "He's loyal… Yes, he can keep his memory too."

Minato released a deep sigh, knowing that it was almost over. Being as quiet as he could, he pushed Kakashi's bedroom door open, to reveal the half awake shinobi still quite ill.

"Sensei?" he said hoarsely as he looked up at him with drowsy eyes. All the exhaustion was knocked out of him once he saw his mother though. "Mother! What's happened? Who did this to you?"

In an instant he was out of bed and next to his mother, helping Minato put her on his bed. She patted next to her, letting Kakashi lay next to her as she used some of her last strength to wrap her arms around him and run her fingers though his hair.

"I am so sorry," she said as tears filled her eyes. "I am sorry that I have not been the mother I should have been for the past year."

"Mother…" he trailed off, trying hard not to cry himself. He was a shinobi. He couldn't cry.

"I was so devoured by my own pain, in the pain of losing my husband, that I forgot that you had lost your father," she said with such regret. "And I am sorry that I will never be able to make it up to you."

"You don't have to make anything up t-"

"Shh," she said softly. "I do Pup. But I can't. I've run out of time."

"We need to get you to the hospital," he said quickly, flying up and grabbing his mother. "We need to get you there now."

"Just like your father," she mumbled as the life faded. "Always trying to save the day."

"Sensei, out of the way please," Kakashi said as he carried his mother, having a hard time because he was still weak from being ill. Minato didn't budge.

"Kakashi, even if you took her to the hospital, there's nothing they could do," Minato said patiently. Now Kakashi's eyes were filling up.

"Get out of the way or I will move you," he yelled, only to be stopped by his mother putting her hand on his cheek.

"Pup, it's okay," she whispered. "Once you go to sleep, this will all be a dream."

"What are you talking about Mother?!" he said with aggravation because he was so confused. "You'll be dead. It won't be a dream. You won't be here anymore! How am I supposed to deal with that? Who'll teach me to actually be decent at the violin, or how to talk in that weird language you use? I… I don't want to be alone…"

"It'll be okay," she said again. "Just be brave."

With any ounce of energy she could muster, she pulled herself up to her son's face and kissed his forehead.

"We will meet again," she promised. "If not in this life, then the next. Now rest."

Kakashi didn't know what to do as Minato took Mikazuki from his arms and carried her away. So badly did he want to run after them, to see what was going to happen next, but he knew that he couldn't. He wasn't supposed to.

Minato ran out to the backyard with Mikazuki, laying her in the grass as he started gathering wood to build a pyre. She was so far gone that she wasn't talking or doing much of anything now but just waiting.

_Will you be waiting for me Sakumo? On the other side? _She wondered to herself as she lay in the grass, running her fingers through the soft blades. Then she felt something warm and soft laying on her stomach. None other than Pakuun, now returning loyalty after running off the sadness and the pain.

"Mistress, I'm sorry for running," he said in his little voice. She simply nodded, pulling her hand out of the grass and running in over his soft back. "I will protect Master, I promise."

"Go to him now then," she said so softly that it barely sounded like anything. Pakuun obeyed, gently leaping off his mistress's stomach and running into the house where Kakashi sat in his bed, staring at the wall.

"Master?" Pakuun asked gently. Kakashi didn't even look at him. "It won't be so bad Master. Just you and me and all of the other dogs." Nothing. Not even a flinch.

"It's ready," Minato said with finality as he looked back at Mikazuki. "Are you sure this is okay? Have you cast that spell yet? How does it even work?"

"Don't worry," she murmured as he picked her up. "By dawn, I will be gone."

She pressed two of her fingers to his forehead, giving him the last memory she could muster before she was gone for good. _"My name is Naruto Uzumaki and my dream is to become Hokage!"_

"Goodbye Minato," she said as she finally faded from that world and made her way to the next. Minato knew that he had to work quickly now, even though all he wanted was to think on that last memory, to only think on that and not his dead friend. First, he laid Mikazuki on the wood and lit the fire, hurrying inside right after so that he wouldn't have to watch her burn.

"She's dead now, isn't she?" Kakashi asked as he walked out of his room and towards his sensei.

"I'm sorry Kakashi," he said quickly as he grabbed the boy and pressed his pressure points, making him fall into sleep. The sooner he slept, the sooner he would forget, and the less distracted Minato would be when finishing this job. He carried Kakashi into his parents' room and laid him in their bed since his was wet and blood covered from his mother.

"Pictures," he said to himself as he rummaged through the drawers, grabbing all of Mikazuki's clothes, pictures, and any other possessions he could get his hands on. Once he started a pile of them, he hurried into the attic, grabbing one of the boxes up in the attic and ripping it open. As quickly as he could, he rid all of the boxes of pictures, not noticing that her birth certificate and citizenship certificate were in one of the boxes. As for her trunk… he couldn't bring himself to do it. He knew that her violin was there, her beads, all of the little treasures she had from her old life. No, he wouldn't get rid of that. Instead, he hid it behind the other boxes he'd gone through and hurried back downstairs. By now, her body was ash, leaving behind only the solid sheath from Sakumo's tanto. The tanto! He would have to find that, wherever it was left. Trying his best not to think about what he was doing, he threw the clothes, pictures, possessions, everything all into the fire, turning away to go find the tanto and keep himself distracted.

"I don't think I can watch this anymore," Kakashi said quietly, leading the memory to be ended instantly. They were back at the fire, sitting side by side, staring deep into the flames.

"Are you okay?" she asked as she looked over at her son. He continued staring into the flame as he slowed down his breathing; feeling as if he had just ran a marathon.

"I don't know," he said slowly. "I know I feel different though."

"Different isn't always bad," she said as she placed a hand on his knee. "Kakashi…?"

"Yeah, it isn't always bad," he said back. "So did you meet him?"

"Hmm?"

"Father, did you meet him on the other side?" Kakashi asked.

"No," she said sadly. "I still haven't found him. But I haven't stopped looking... He has the tendency of getting lost…"

"Oh," he said quietly. He didn't know what to do now. All of the gaps were filled in, all of the memories made sense. Maybe she was right and he didn't have a cause or a mission to complete. "I have to stop Sasuke."

"I know," she agreed.

"And you've really helped me."

"It was unintentional, but I'm glad."

"I just have one more question…" Kakashi trailed off. "Mae remembered you, how was that possible?"

"Mae is an old woman," Mikazuki answered, "her mind was not hard to manipulate."

"You gave her memories back, temporarily?" Kakashi asked in shock. "Why?"

"Because, I needed someone to help me get to you," she answered quietly. "This spell has limitations Kakashi. I couldn't simply jump into your mind, even though I had tried on several occasions. I needed you to meet someone I was close to, and go from there."

"Does she still have her memories?" Kakashi asked.

"No," she said back. "If you were to mail her a letter, she would have no idea who you even were."

She could feel something in that very moment, breaking her focus. A decision being made. A dark haired boy packing his bags.

"Kakashi, you have to wake up now. You have to go back," she said frantically. "You have to find Sasuke. Now. You have to go now."

"Wait, why? What's happening?" he asked as she pulled him out of the dream and back into reality. He flew up from his bed in the hospital and ran out of the room, grabbing his vest and throwing it on as he ran. There weren't many places that Sasuke could be, but he figured the best place to start would be the Uchiha compound. Fortunately for him, he ran into Sasuke on the way there.

"We need to talk, now," he said as he grabbed the boy's arm, but it was pushed away.

"I'm done talking Sensei. I'm done waiting around until I care about someone enough. Everyone I've ever cared enough for is dead," Sasuke said darkly, not so much anger but sadness filling his voice.

"Revenge will get you nowhere," Kakashi reminded him.

"No one you loved was ever violently murdered! How would you like it if I murdered the person most precious to you!? Then you'd understand…"

_A snapshot of a memory of Kakashi's mother jumped into his brain. He could see her standing there in one of her flowing dresses, thin arms held parallel as she walked across the railing of a bridge with a small Kakashi following her._

_ "Mother, why did you take me out of class today?" Kakashi asked as he focused on not falling into the river._

_ "We're going on an adventure!" She said with excitement as she did a dip with her foot as if she was a gymnast on the balance beam._

_ "Really?" Kakashi asked with equal excitement. "Where are we going?"_

_ "I don't know yet," she said with her laughing voice. "That's part of the adventure!"_

"Well, I suppose you could… but unfortunately I don't have anyone special left,"* Kakashi said softly as the memory faded back into the vault in his mind. "Sasuke, can I tell you one last story… to maybe change your mind?"

"Fine," he said sharply, crossing his arms and staring expectantly at his sensei. "But I don't have all night."

"I understand," Kakashi said as he tried to think of the best way to word this. "There was a woman, a long time ago, who lived in this village. She wasn't a shinobi of any sort, though she mostly associated with shinobi, and lived a very good, but short life. In her lifetime, she had always been kind to those around her, even though she sometimes came off as over emotional."

"What's your point?" Sasuke asked impatiently.

"I'm getting there," Kakashi said with slight annoyance. "So, this innocent woman was murdered. By a shinobi. To this day, I hold no grudge against that shinobi or those associated with him."

"Why does this matter? It isn't even relevant," Sasuke said as he pushed past Kakashi.

"It's relevant because that woman was my mother and the shinobi who killed her was your father," Kakashi said calmly, freezing Sasuke in his tracks. "I hold no grudge against you Sasuke, or your father, because that's simply not a way to live. Seeking vengeance will only leave you empty."

"I don't believe you," Sasuke said with rage. "No, you're wrong. If my father did kill your mother, then she must've deserved it."

"Your father was human Sasuke. He could make mistakes too," Kakashi said as he concealed the burning in his stomach from Sasuke saying such things.

"No, he wouldn't kill someone just for fun," Sasuke reasoned to himself. "No, no you're wrong. You're so wrong. No, I'm not hearing this. I'm leaving."

"Fine," Kakashi said coldly. "Leave. Follow the path of darkness and wallow in self pity for the rest of your life. I can lead a horse to water, but I can't force it to drink. If you want to become Orochimaru's tool, that's your decision."

With that, Sasuke disappeared from the scene. Kakashi wasn't sure if he wanted to hit something or rip his hair out in frustration, but he knew what he had to do. He had to tell Lady Tsunade that Sasuke's leaving, that he would now be officially a rogue ninja… That Kakashi had failed his student, just like he had failed Obito and his father had failed his team.

Sasuke was running as soon as he made some distance between him and his sensei. How could his father have killed anyone who was innocent? No, it wasn't true. Sensei was making things up to get him to stay in the village. That was low, even for him. He just had to make it out of the village, meet up with those shinobi working for Orochimaru, and then he would be well on his way to becoming stronger. He could leave this all behind him and focus on what was really important. That was all he thought, until he saw Sakura standing in the road, the only road out of the village.

"It's the dead of night… what are you doing out here?" Sasuke asked, slight concern crossing his mind. The last person he had wanted to see on his way out was Sakura.

"This road is the only way out of the village, so I've been keeping watch," she said sternly as she looked at his feet.

"Just go to bed," he said harshly, praying that she would just leave him alone and let him live with the decision he's made.

"Why don't you ever tell me anything?" she asked as tears ran from her eyes. "Why do you have to be so silent? Why can't you just… let me in?"**

Sasuke stopped and turned around, staring at this girl, his teammate, his… whatever she was to him, he wasn't quite sure, and how broken up she was.

"Why would I?" he asked as he stared at the crying girl.

"Because we're friends, I thought," she started. "Because… things seemed to be changing… You were changing… For the first time since I met you, you were happy. And so I thought…"

"You thought that meant that things had changed?" he asked with plenty of annoyance. "You thought that because I was happier that my parents were magically alive and my brother was dead? No, Sakura, nothing's changed. I have to become stronger."

"Can't you become stronger here?" she asked. "Do you have to leave to become stronger?"

"I don't seem to be getting any stronger here," was all he said as he walked past her.

"Sasuke, please don't leave!" she shouted, desperation ringing through her voice as she continued to cry. "I need you here!"

"You need me?" he asked as he stopped in his tracks.

"Yes, yes I do Sasuke," she said urgently. "You and Naruto and Kakashi Sensei are like my family now Sasuke, and if one of you goes away…. Especially you…."

"Why especially me?" Sasuke asked as he turned back around and stared at her.

"Do you need me to say it?" she asked as she wiped her tears away with her arm. "Kakashi Sensei and Naruto are like family, like my uncle and my brother…. But you Sasuke… well, you have a special place in my heart… And I know, at first, it was because you were the cool guy, the best shinobi in our class, but after spending time with you and the way you've been recently… I realized that… that maybe I do have feelings for you, beyond the shallow ones I had before."

His cold, unfeeling eyes turned soft as he walked towards Sakura. She held her face in her hands, crying almost uncontrollably and trembling with all of the emotions and stress she was feeling. Before her knees could give out, Sasuke wrapped his arms around her back, catching her from falling, and the sat her on the nearby bench.

"Then I'll stay," he decided out loud as he sat down next to Sakura.

"You'll stay?" she asked with disbelief as she sat up and stared at Sasuke. He nodded slightly, giving her a small but sincere smile.

"You gave me a reason to," he answered as she grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. He wrapped his arms around her back and buried his face into her shoulder, smelling her strawberry shampoo. _Is this what it feels like Sensei? To have someone important to you. I think I may have forgotten the feeling._ "You should go back home."

"How do I know you won't just leave?" she asked as she let go and looked at Sasuke.

"I promise I will not leave," he said as he brushed a stray strand of pink hair behind her ear. "But it's going to be dangerous here soon and I don't need you to get hurt. If you want to help, go find Kakashi Sensei… I think I owe him an apology."

"Right," Sakura said with a nod, smiling even though she still had tears in her eyes. She had done it… Sasuke wasn't going to leave. Little did she know how much she had actually changed the fate of her entire village, her sensei, Naruto, Sasuke, and herself.

* * *

"What?" Tsunade asked angrily as Kakashi told her what had happened with Sasuke. "And you let him leave?"

"Forcing him to stay is a better option?" Kakashi asked with just a little more ice than he'd meant. "Sorry, that was disrespectful."

"No time for apologizing. We have to stop him before he leaves the village," Tsunade said as she got up from her desk and hurried towards the door with Kakashi. Just as they were about to run out, Sakura was running in.

"There you are Kakashi Sensei," she said with a breath of relief. "I've been looking everywhere for you. Sasuke wants to talk to you."

"He hasn't left?" Kakashi asked as he and Tsunade followed Sakura quickly through the streets.

"He isn't leaving at all," she said with a smile as they reached the road that she had left him at. Just as he said he would, Sasuke stood there waiting, but in the distance, beyond the gates, he could see them. The sound four were waiting for him just beyond the gate, and he had a feeling that changing his mind wouldn't be a proper excuse for not following them.

"Sasuke, what the hell were you thinking?" Tsunade asked angrily as they made their way over to him.

"I'll explain later," Sasuke answered, "but right now, there are four shinobi out there waiting for me."

"Okay, Sasuke, Sakura, go find Jiraiya, Guy and Asuma. Tell them to meet us here and then get as far away from here as you can," Tsunade ordered, receiving an obedient nod from Sakura but hesitation from Sasuke.

"I'm not running like a dog with my tail between my legs," Sasuke grumbled. "I made this mistake, so it's only right that I help fix it."

Kakashi could see it: Sasuke dying from the curse mark completely devouring his exhausted body. Tsunade and himself taking an extreme amount of damage. This would be the end of the road, the end of Sasuke's journey, unless he could convince him otherwise.

"Sasuke, I understand how you're feeling right now, but it's time for you to admit that you're a little over your head and follow the orders of those older than you," Kakashi said in a way that reminded him eerily of his father.

"No, I won't go. This is my fight," Sasuke answered back. "I have to protect what's important to me."

Visions were flying into Kakashi's head at supersonic speeds as the entirety of Sasuke's life that would be lost if he died flashed through his mind. As they continued, the faster they became, almost frantic.

"Kakashi Sensei!" Sasuke called as his sensei fell to the ground, overwhelmed with too much.

_"Pup, I'm all out of time," Mikazuki's voice cut through the sounds and sights of Sasuke's life, pulling Kakashi back to the campfire. "I've run out of power… my spell will be broken."_

_ "What will happen?" Kakashi asked, his mind still buzzing as he wondered what was happening in the real world and how he could get back._

_ "I don't know," she admitted as she put a hand on Kakashi's shoulder. "All I know is that, it won't be the same. If I am able... I will lend Sasuke some strength... He has a journey ahead of him and will need your help."_

_ Kissing her son on the forehead for the last time, Mikazuki glided into the forest area around the camp fire, a place Kakashi couldn't reach even if he tried._

_ "Who knows Pup," she whispered. "Maybe things will be better once the spell is broken."_

_ Before he could answer, his father emerged from the woods, more translucent looking than his mother. Mikazuki stared at him as if he were a stranger._

_ "Sa… sakumo?" she whispered, staring up at him._

_ "I thought you might get lost in these woods," he said quietly, "so I waited for you."_

_ Kakashi stared at his father, a person who he had loved and hated over the past few years. Even within the past week his feelings for him had flashed between love and hate, hating him for leaving him and his mother alone, but loving him for all of the small memories with him that he'd forgotten. _

_ "I guess this is goodbye, for real then," Kakashi said as he stared up at his parents._

_ "More like, goodbye for now," Mikazuki said with a slight smile. _

_ "Kakashi," Sakumo started as he walked closer to his son. "I hope that somehow… you find a way to forgive me… for what I did to you… for what I did to our family…"_

_ "I forgave you a long time ago," Kakashi answered, receiving a slight nod from his father. "I have the feeling we don't have anymore time to talk about it now though…"_

_ "No, we don't, but one day, we will. One day, everything will be better again," Sakumo said as he gently took Mikazuki's hand and started walking into the forest with her._

_ "Goodbye," Kakashi called, receiving a wave from them as they disappeared into bright dust that looked more like fireflies to him, and went to wherever… he wasn't sure where. All he knew was that now, they were at peace._


	12. Epilogue

**Author's Note: I'm sorry that I took so long to post this! I was in a battle with myself on how I wanted to end it (there were two options I was stuck between) and it made me so frustrated that I just ignored this story for a while. But now, it is finally complete. I'd like to thank all of you who read this story, especially those who reviewed, favorited, and followed. It's been a great journey and I've really enjoyed writing it, so I hope you've enjoyed reading it. Thanks again :)**

Epilogue

The sweet silence of the training fields early in the morning was music to Kakashi's ears as he rested against the memorial stone and read Make out Paradise for the 125th time. He had almost forgotten how beautiful the sound of nothing really was. It had been a month since Mikazuki's spell had broken, and the effects had drastically changed the entire fate of the village.

Once the spell was broken, the entire history of the village from the point of Mikazuki's death until present was warped in a domino affect.

_"Hey," Obito said carefully as he walked over to Kakashi, who was sitting at his mother's grave, trying to make sense of everything._

_ "What do you want?" Kakashi asked bitterly, rereading the engraved words on the stone, as if they were magic and would bring his mother back._

_ "I…. I need to tell you something," Obito said as he rung his hands on his shirt. "I met your mom the night she died."_

"Are you daydreaming again?" Obito asked playfully, making Kakashi jump from his thoughts.

"Ha, yeah, I guess I was," Kakashi answered as he snapped his book shut.

"Well cut it out! We've been waiting for you for an hour now! Looks like I'm the only one who grew out of always being late, huh?" Obito said with a grin as he adjusted his headband that replaced his goggles long ago.

"I always have a good excuse for being late," Kakashi teased back as he stood up. "Where have you guys been waiting anyways?"

"Did you forget? Gosh! We've been a team for twenty years as of today, remember?"

_Kakashi blinked away the fog of sedative and pain killers as his one eye focused on the closest thing he had to a family standing around him._

_ "You're awake!" Rin said with excitement and relief. "We got you these, hope you like them." From the corner of his eye, he could see a vase of lilies sitting on the nightstand. _

_ "Thanks," he answered, sitting up to get a better look at his friends. _

_ "…They weren't able to save your eye," Obito said, looking at the ground. "I… I'm really really sorry Kakashi."_

_ "We saved Rin. That's all that matters," Kakashi answered. "Besides, you should be celebrating. Your finally awakened the sharingan."_

_ "Heh, yeah…"_

"Let me guess, you got lost on the path of life again?" Rin asked with a smile as Obito and Kakashi joined her and Minato for dinner inside the teahouse.

"I think I've always been a little lost on the path of life," he said with a smile as he sat down with his friends. Minato met eyes with him in a way the other two could never understand. They were the only humans who knew the difference between life now, and life how it had been previously. Because Obito had become close friends with Kakashi through the loss of Mikazuki, he had the courage to confide in Minato years ago that he had seen Kakashi's mother at the Uchiha compound, because she had walked him home. He also had told him that he saw Fugaku follow her. This confession led to an investigation of the Uchiha clan that lasted years and led to the coup d'état being discovered much earlier. It wasn't until Minato had become hokage that he was able to do anything with this knowledge, and it became known as one of the most controversial moves a hokage has ever made. He sentenced Fugaku Uchiha to death for the murder of Mikazuki Hatake, and exiled all of the leaders of the coup d'état. Any of them who tried to sneak back into the village, which there were many, were killed without question. At first, this led to some bitterness within the Uchiha clan, but when new leaders of the clan took the old, corrupt leaders' positions, it seemed to bring fresh ideas back into the clan, and prevented a civil war within Konoha. Because the coup was stopped so early, the entire Uchiha clan was spared, and because Obito never was crushed, the Nine Tailed Fox still lived within Kushina.

"Now that we've got Kakashi here, let's eat! I'm starving," Obito said excitedly to the rest of his teammates. His eyes caught two brothers who were walking in together with their mother. "Hey Sasuke, Itachi! Good to see you two. How did the mission go?"

"It went. It was relatively easy," Itachi said with a shrug. It was the first mission his brother had joined him on, and wasn't as easy as he was letting on. They were searching for a remedy to the curse mark, and had been gone for months, speaking to anyone who may know anything about it, only to come up with more questions than answers.

"Good to hear," Obito said as his eyes drifted to Sasuke's neck.

"Make sure to get some rest Sasuke," Kakashi said as he met eyes with his student. Sasuke nodded, no longer having the thirst for the power that the curse mark held. To him, it was more of a nuisance than anything.

"I'll let Naruto know you're back. He's been going crazy worrying about you two," Minato said with a smile. "I told him not to, but you know how he is."

Naruto hadn't changed all that much with the changes. He was still a hyperactive knucklehead who wanted to be hokage, but now it was for entirely different reasons. He grew up with a family and without being hated by the village, but now he had extremely large shoes to fill. The village expected him to become great, and he didn't always meet those expectations, but he was getting there. Even without the Nine Tailed Fox's power, Naruto was going to be one of the strongest shinobi the village had ever known, Kakashi just knew it.

"Even when we drag you away from the memorial, you're still in a haze!" Obito said with irritation. "Did you just hear what I said?"

"Oh, sorry, no," Kakashi said as he shook off his thoughts.

"I have a really important announcement," he said again, an embarrassed smile sprouting on his face. "Rin and I are going to get married."

"I had a feeling that's what this 'reunion' was really about," Kakashi said to a blushing Rin and a sheepish Obito. "Congratulations guys."

Kakashi basked in the excitement of his friends, living the life that they previously would never have had, as they talked about old times and the future and all of the spaces in between. He saw his sensei do it as well, every so often. Just stand back and watch as people whose lives had ended too soon got the chance they always wanted.

"I've been meaning to ask you Kakashi," Minato started as they parted ways with Rin and Obito, walking home from dinner, "how do you feel about all of the changes?"

"I think they're for the better. If anything, I wish they had happened instead of the other reality ever existing. I know my mother did what she thought was right, but she was relying on visions that possessed too many variables," Kakashi said as he tucked his hands in his pockets.

"You don't miss being the great Copy Ninja Kakashi?" Minato asked.

"No, not really," Kakashi said as he pulled his keys out of his pocket and unlocked his door. "Besides, I prefer the name they know me as in the bingo books now anyways," he added as he closed the door behind him.

"White Fang Hatake," Minato said as he walked away. "The name he was destined to bear, just as his father did."


End file.
